[whatwg] Nitpicking Re: Editorial Bug: "Couple" of Appendicies

[Charles McCathieNevile]

On Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:20:32 +0900, Stijn Peeters <stijn.p at hccnet.nl>  
wrote:

> Smylers schreef:
>> A very minor niggle with the 'Structure of this specification' section,
>> which says:
>>
>>   There are also a couple of appendices, defining shims for WYSIWYG
>>   editors, rendering rules for Web browsers, and listing areas that are
>>   out of scope for this specification.
>>
>>     http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/#structure
>>
>> That's 3 appendicies, which is more than a couple.
>>
>> Smylers
>>
>
> —Idiom
> 14. a couple of, more than two, but not many, of; a small number of; a  
> few: It will take a couple of days for the package to get there. Also, a  
> couple.
>
> (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/couple)
>
> I assume this meaning of "a couple" is used here.

It is not the most intelligent use of english.. A couple really does mean  
two, so the understanding of a native english speaker is that you really  
are saying two, but lying. In this case, Smylers is correct that using  
"couple" is wrong, assuming that using reasonably good english is a goal.

cheers

Chaals

-- 
   Charles McCathieNevile, Opera Software: Standards Group
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