[kelnos]

I was always taught that few is either three or four, and you cannot definitively infer which without more information.

But I think this just illustrates the point of the article: people are taught different things, and there has been different opinions on usage for hundreds of years, so we just cannot be definitive here.

If you need to convey a specific number, use that number. Even if you aren't completely settled on a number, but you need to tell someone to do something that will ultimately result in a number, do them the courtesy of fixing your indecision, and pick a number to tell them. If you want to convey some semi-amorphous magnitude, and the number ultimately doesn't matter in any concrete way, sure, you can use couple, few, or several.