[Daneel_]

don't forget:

several = 5-10

handful = 10-20

Personally, after having worked in a hardware store, I always confirm. "grab me a couple of those please" - "is two enough, or do you need a few extra?"

I'm one of those people for whom a couple is 3-5, but never 2. I would just say "two".

[onionisafruit]

Handful is 5 unless you are talking about something that can physically fit in your hand ( in that case it’s however much can fit in your hand ).

[Daneel_]

Handful is more than "several" to me, and several tops out around 10, hence 10-20 being a handful.

Anything that's a word instead of a precise number implies a range to me (eg, few, handful, several).

[onionisafruit]

Despite coming across like I was trying to correct you, I only meant to give my personal understanding of “handful”

I don’t know where I got my idea of handful, but it probably came from how high I can count using the fingers on one hand. So far that understanding seems to work for me when other people say it as long as I do what you said and treat it as an approximation.

On the “several” topic, I used to think it meant “about seven” because of the shared “sev” prefix, but it didn’t take long to realize several has a much bigger range than that.

[_carbyau_]

This is what I love about language. "several" and "handful" have waaay different meanings to me.

In practice my immediate response for "several" would be to use it interchangeably with "few". 3-5.

But all these comments make me think that maybe it should fill my [gap] at "seven-ish". I mean, the "seve" bit does kinda lend itself.

[0] Tangentially, several is from 'Medieval Latin separalis "separable," ' as in '(as in went their several ways)' . So to link it with "seven" would be a weird thing to do but I imagine this kind of thing happens with a living language.

[0] https://www.etymonline.com/word/several

As for "handful"... you and I are worlds apart on that one! :-P Hand has four fingers, five digits. So "handful" is 4-5 for me. But as other comments alluded, if the [thing] is a batch of small something (like sand) then it's simply how much you can grasp.

As I mentioned these words have surprisingly varied definitions between people! One of the wonders of a living language.

[throwaway422432]

I think it depends on where you grow up.

Still not as amorphous as the word "now" and its various prefixes when it comes to South Africans and time.

[867-5309]

a couple is always two. anything more is several, up to half a dozen

[Daneel_]

So if I said "hand me a couple of screws, would you?" - you'd give me exactly 2? If you know you want an exact number I would always use the exact number. I'd never say "give me a dozen screws", I'd just say "give me 12 screws". Named quantities are almost always a range rather than a definitive number as far as I'm concerned.

[867-5309]

indeed I would hand you two. if you asked for double next time, surely you'd expect four

[_carbyau_]

> a couple is 3-5, but never 2

For me it depends on the formality. For example, a married couple is never more than two people.

[Daneel_]

Ahh, that's different than referring to a count of things though - you can't hand a couple of married people to someone, for example. But "Hand me a couple of screws, would you?" - I'd pass them 3-4 screws, not 2.

[goopypoop]

I'd like a handful of bowling balls, please.

[Daneel_]

I mean, sure. That doesn't necessarily seem like a weird statement to me.

It's more than several, but still a manageable number.

[goopypoop]

Great! In that case I'll take two handfuls of bowling balls and several wheelbarrows. Maybe I should get a couple (4) more wheelbarrows to be safe, bring it down to under 4 balls per barrow

[Daneel_]

If you're trying to provoke a "wait, that's not what I meant" response with that sarcasm, you won't get it :)

Use depends on context, like all language, and deliberately choosing a situation that doesn't suit the language will obviously result in confusion.

[goopypoop]

I'm just really enjoying the absurd scenario we've created