This reminds me of the counting instructions for the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. https://montypython.fandom.com/wiki/Holy_Hand_Grenade_of_Antioch
'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.' So could this also match the definition of ‘couple’ for counting things — 3 , 2 if on the way to 3, but 1 one is not mentioned and 5 is right out. Martin > On Sep 8, 2021, at 5:43 PM, Mark Waddingham via use-livecode > <use-livecode@lists.runrev.com> wrote: > > Heh - I think you are both right in different contexts... > > For sure, when used as a noun in isolation (a couple) it refers to two - > specifically either a pair of parallel but opposing forces (physics) or a > pair of (usually romantically) involved individuals (some might wryly suggest > that these two things are much the same ;) ). > > I’d say though that when applied to another noun, it generally implies ‘some’ > - not two specifically, or even three - but a definitely small number. > > In fact I think it’s slightly more subtle than that in general usage though... > > If applied to something which can be counted discretely (eg facts) - ‘a > couple of’ implies a likelihood it was almost certainly two, but maybe three > (as the exact number wasn’t really important). > > However, if applied to something which is continuous (and perhaps more > importantly something humans are not that great at accurately estimating - eg > time) it rarely means two exactly... > > After all when was the last time you said to someone - ‘I’ll just be a couple > of minutes’ and were, indeed, exactly 120 seconds? ;) _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
