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Post by Paul Doherty on Jul 17, 2008 10:33:39 GMT
And isn't it funny how "a" changes things:
- a few of them were unhappy with the offer - few of them were unhappy with the offer
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Post by Alan Palmer on Jul 17, 2008 14:15:26 GMT
Quite. "Few" and "many" are subjective. A modern-day parent in most of the developed countries might contemplate the thought of having more than (say) four kids with something akin to horror, and consider five to be "many".
A Victorian or a parent from Catholic countries or those where birth control is not easily carried out would probably consider four to be the norm.
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Post by Pete on Jul 17, 2008 16:32:03 GMT
I'm with Paul: we might have "a few" of something, and at the other end we might have "many". There may (or may not) be a gap between the two, but as soon as you move to considerably more than a few, you're into "many". A few more than a few? A bit more than a few? A few and a bit? Just trying to bridge the gap!
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Post by Twoddle on Jul 17, 2008 16:35:35 GMT
I'm with Paul: we might have "a few" of something, and at the other end we might have "many". There may (or may not) be a gap between the two, but as soon as you move to considerably more than a few, you're into "many". A few more than a few? A bit more than a few? A few and a bit? Just trying to bridge the gap! Definitely somewhat less than many (or perhaps slightly more so), I feel.
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Post by Pete on Jul 17, 2008 16:39:26 GMT
A few more than a few? A bit more than a few? A few and a bit? Just trying to bridge the gap! Definitely somewhat less than many (or perhaps slightly more so), I feel. Between the many and the few falls the shadow.
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Post by SusanB on Jul 17, 2008 17:06:15 GMT
Many fews are a few manies?
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Post by Alan Palmer on Jul 17, 2008 18:00:07 GMT
Then, of course, there was Churchill's "Few", the Battle of Britain pilots. They numbered roughly a thousand, in fact.
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Post by Pete on Jul 17, 2008 19:16:05 GMT
Then, of course, there was Churchill's "Few", the Battle of Britain pilots. They numbered roughly a thousand, in fact. If they were Scottish, did they pay few duties? ;D
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Post by Twoddle on Jul 17, 2008 19:39:16 GMT
Then, of course, there was Churchill's "Few", the Battle of Britain pilots. They numbered roughly a thousand, in fact. And Henry V's "happy few". How many of them were left before the battle of Agincourt?
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Post by Tone on Jul 17, 2008 21:06:14 GMT
>I'd say it's not an accepted idiom<
I have certainly seen/heard it not a few times!
Tone
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Post by Vadim on Jul 18, 2008 7:39:21 GMT
I have read this thread not more than a few times too many, and I'm still completely lost.
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