Note that “couple” without a following “of” is ungrammatical in British English.
Relatedly, “a couple” meaning specifically any more than two seems odd to my British ears. If I say I went somewhere a couple of times, that’s more or less equally to saying I went there “once or twice”; it certainly doesn’t mean “three or four times”. Perhaps American English is looser in this regard… or perhaps it’s an idiosyncrasy and not a BrE/AmE thing at all.
American English is definitely "looser"--a generous way to put it. Personally, I'm kind of appalled when a word that means "two" starts to mean "three or four," and yet I find myself using "couple" that way all the time, so I admit to being part of the problem. Sigh.
Head spinning! It reminds me of being scolded about my usual email salutation, 'Hi all....". that it should, in fact, be fact is should be "Hi, All," both H and A in caps, double commas etc...it still looks just plan wrong...
Criminy! (as my grandmother used to say). As though there weren't plenty of more important things to scold people about. For what it's worth, you have my permission to write your email salutation however you damn well please.
Note that “couple” without a following “of” is ungrammatical in British English.
Relatedly, “a couple” meaning specifically any more than two seems odd to my British ears. If I say I went somewhere a couple of times, that’s more or less equally to saying I went there “once or twice”; it certainly doesn’t mean “three or four times”. Perhaps American English is looser in this regard… or perhaps it’s an idiosyncrasy and not a BrE/AmE thing at all.
American English is definitely "looser"--a generous way to put it. Personally, I'm kind of appalled when a word that means "two" starts to mean "three or four," and yet I find myself using "couple" that way all the time, so I admit to being part of the problem. Sigh.
Head spinning! It reminds me of being scolded about my usual email salutation, 'Hi all....". that it should, in fact, be fact is should be "Hi, All," both H and A in caps, double commas etc...it still looks just plan wrong...
Criminy! (as my grandmother used to say). As though there weren't plenty of more important things to scold people about. For what it's worth, you have my permission to write your email salutation however you damn well please.
amen, sister!