密歇根新闻广播 "a couple of"的几点思考

 

TWTS: A couple of thoughts on "a couple of"

A couple of things can clearly be two things. For many people though, a couple of things can include three or even four things.

That's because the phrase "a couple of" has some elasticity¹ to it.

Professor Anne Curzan admits that she was once adamant² that "a couple of things" always means exactly two things:

"If I started an email and said, 'I have a couple of questions,' and then started listing my questions and discovered that I actually had three questions, I would go back and change it and say, 'I have a few questions.'"

A couple of years ago (or maybe three or four), one of Curzan's students conducted a small survey about this phrase at the University of Michigan. She found that for more than half of the people who responded, "a couple of" could or even must refer to more than two.

Curzan and her student checked usage³ guides and dictionaries and found that, in fact, "a couple of" is synonymous with "a few" or "several."

"In other words, I stood corrected," Curzan said.

This doesn't mean that "a couple of" can't refer to two things, but it's also, loosely speaking, more than that. If you tell someone you'll call them back in a couple of minutes, do you mean exactly two minutes? Unless you've got your eyes glued to a stopwatch, probably not. You probably just mean a short amount of time, at least two minutes but probably not much more than five.

Please note that "a couple of" is an informal phrase and is best avoided in formal settings or situations where precision matters. In other words, if your dentist or doctor tells you they're going to extract⁴ "a couple of" something, it's probably best to ask for clarification.

1 elasticity   

n.弹性，伸缩力

参考例句：

• The skin eventually loses its elasticity.皮肤最终会失去弹性。
• Every sort of spring has a definite elasticity.每一种弹簧都有一定的弹性。

2 adamant   

adj.坚硬的，固执的

参考例句：

• We are adamant on the building of a well-off society.在建设小康社会这一点上，我们是坚定不移的。
• Veronica was quite adamant that they should stay on.维罗妮卡坚信他们必须继续留下去。

3 usage   

n.惯用法，使用，用法

参考例句：

• I am clear about the usage of this word at last.这个词的用法我算是弄明白了。
• The usage is now firmly established.这种用法现已得到确认。

4 extract   

vt.取出，提取，获得，摘录；n.摘录，提出物

参考例句：

• The article was a choice extract from her writings.这篇文章是从她的著作中摘录出来的精粹。
• We can extract oil from olive.我们可以从橄榄中榨油。