Comment on We should count in base four
Hjalamanger@feddit.nu 8 months agoIf you ask someone for “multiple” of something their almost always going to give you three of that thing (or nothing). In that context multiple is just three and as @CatsGoMOW@lemmy.world pointed out, if I use triple I could as well keep going with higher numbers (quadrupole etc)
If you ask someone for “multiple” of something their almost always going to give you three of that thing (or nothing).
Huh? I’ve lived a long time and that’s not something that feels familiar to me. On the other hand I do have multiple dollars in my bank account and that equation checks out.
I’m not a native English speaker so you (and everyone else here) are probably right. I thought it meant the same thing as the Swedish word “flera” whilst the proper translation seems to be “ett flertal”
I think it differs. To me, “flera” is like 3-5 maybe? Perhaps 4-10 in some cases. And I sometimes hear people use “par” to mean 3, probably short for “ett par tre stycken”, so a poorly defined 2-3 that sometimes is 3.
The victim was shot multiple times. I don’t see this as 3. I’d see this as 5 or 6 times
Yeah, your probably right; my English ain’t perfect. A few would probably have been better to use as @RainfallSonata@lemmy.world pointed out
RainfallSonata@lemmy.world 8 months ago
If someone asks me for “a few” I’ll give them three or four. If someone asks for “multiple” I’ll give them a handful and ask if that’s enough.
I don’t know where in the world this theory is coming from, but here, two would be “a couple” and three+ would be “a few.” Not that “a pair” (never just pair) and multiple aren’t used in other contexts, but you wouldn’t use pair and multiple in the same context. A pair is specific, multiple is an estimate.
Hjalamanger@feddit.nu 8 months ago
It’s just me thinking of what I ordered people near me would do. But I’m not a native English speaker so my feel for the language might be wrong; I’m from Sweden (and my mother tongue is Swedish).
person@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Maybe it’s just me: had to double back on that literal use of “where in the world”.
RainfallSonata@lemmy.world 8 months ago
😉