"couple-three"

[Ian Livingston]

Well, just to reinforce your doubts about the source:  "Oedipa,
checking the bar, grew nervous.  There was this je ne sais quoi about
the Scope crowd: they all wore glasses and stared at you, silent.
Except for a couple-three nearer the door, who were engaged in a
nose-picking contest, seeing how far they could flick it across the
room."  If the saying originated "southeast Michigan in the 1960's,"
it must have traveled far fast.  I seem to recollect the phrase in use
from my youth in California during the '60s.  I think it may go back
much further than the urbandictionary dug.

On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 8:25 PM, John Pendergast <jpender at siue.edu> wrote:
> I’m not sure if this has been mentioned, or how dependable the source is,
> but I was intrigued by the euphemism occurring on page 56, “a couple-three.”
> A quick search reveals the following (example authors’, not mine):
>
> originating in southeast Michigan in the 1960's, the term means a uncertain
> quantity, i.e. It may be two (but rarely is), it could be three but is
> usually more, but is seldom as much as "quite a few".
>
> /Example: I told her a couple three times to get down off the bar or put her
> panties back on before they throw us out.
> /
> //
>
> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=a%20couple%20three
>
>