a couple three

[John Burgess]

'Couple-three' was definitely in wide use in Detroit in the 1950s, but it was also being used in MA during the same period.

I suspect that the phrase has been around for a very long time...

----- Original Message ----
From: Will Layman <WillLayman at comcast.net>
To: Jarek Hirny <j.hirny at post.pl>
Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 6:03:38 PM
Subject: Re: a couple three

The specificity of the Urban Dictionary definition (couple-three originating in MICHIGAN?  Sez who?) is the result of the definitions being typed in by just about anybody.  No serious editorial filter.  For example, the word "awesome" on the UD has 17 different definitions, the last of which is:

What a boyfriend usually refers to his girlfriend as, in the early part of the relationship. Usually replaced with 'bitchy', 'annoying', or 'crazy', at the very first sign a girl suddenly seems human to the guy, or disagrees with him about anything. 'Awesome' is synonymous with 'incredible', 'sweet', 'amazing', and other such terms of endearment.


Which is to say, the UD is kind of fun but not exactly definitive.


As for "couple three", this is a locution that Pynchon has always used in his novels and his essays.  I don't think its presence is a function of his historical research as much as a function of his just really liking the phrase -- a rhythmic, colorful was of saying "a smallish but indeterminate amount" that seems to flow off the American tongue.


-- Will

On Jan 21, 2007, at 5:48 PM, Jarek Hirny wrote:

Hi,


on p 49 Nate Privett says "They're meeting right down the El line a
couple-three stops [...]".


But, but, but. I looked up what precisely "a couple-three" means and on
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=a+couple+three it states
that this term originated in 1960s. Definitely not the time of Nate's
quotation.


Is it an older term? Urbandict is wrong? Or, some Pynchon's slip of the
tongue? Which I highly doubt thanks to his generally praised ear for american idiom...


thanks,
Jarek


 





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