What is a couple?

It's two. However I've noticed recently people using it more broadly, as if to simply mean a "small, indefinite amount".

Woman in front of me in the queue to get coffee asked if her son could have some marshmallows, the barista asked how many, the woman said "oh just a couple", she got two and then implied she was expecting more. The barista said "you asked for a couple", the woman "yeah, but isn't two a little stingy?".

She wasn't being selfish. I think she just expected "a couple" to mean more than two.
 
A couple is of course 2 however it can probably (just about!) be justified to mean several. For example:

"Do you fancy going down the pub for a couple of pints"

If your mate asked you this you'd probably assume he didnt strictly mean 2 drinks but most likely in the range 2-4.
 
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