life:and:lim

I'm really confused.  I always thought "a couple" meant just what it says.  Two.  A pair. One, and two.  Not three, not four.  In the past week though, I've had at least two people interpret "a couple" as more than two. 

In the first case, my friend said something was "a couple miles away."  15-20 minutes later, I was like, "Geez, this place is hella far.  It's totally more than two miles."  She was like, "who said anything about two miles."  I was like, "that's what a couple is!"  In the second case, I said "a couple of friends," meaning two, and was asked exactly how many "a couple" was, but by this time I realized that "a couple" did not unequivocably mean two.

So tell me if I'm wrong, but this is the system of numbers I've always had in my head:

"a" = 1
Ex. "I want a cat."  Means I want ONE cat.

"a couple" = two
Ex. "I had a couple of drinks."  Means I had TWO drinks.

"a few" = 3 - 5 
Ex. "I've visited a few cities around China."  Means I have traveled to FOUR cities in China.

"several" = 5 - 8
Ex. "John has had several partners in the last couple of years."  Means John is someting of a manslut, having spread himself around with approximately SEVEN women in TWO years =P

"many" = 8 - 15, depending on what you're talking about
Ex. "I want to do many different things when I go to Chicago in a few days."  This gets a little hazy, but I probably could come up with more than EIGHT things I want to do in Chicago in the THREE days I have left before my trip.

"a lot" = more than 10ish
Ex. "I have a lot of e-mails to send tonight."  You get the point.

Of course, interpretations of "a few," "several," "many" and "a lot" can differ depending on what you're talking about.  If it's cars in a parking lot, for example, "a few" could mean up to 10, "several" can mean up to 20, "many" can be up to 100, "a lot" can be like 500.  But, "a couple of cars" is still just 2 cars.

Anyway, just some thoughts for an unproductive Thursday night.