Defining moment in numbers

I told my husband a couple guys were coming over to talk with us about staying for a few weeks.
A couple guys – I expected two men.
Three showed up. They wanted to stay 13 or 14 weeks.
After they left, my husband mused, “How many would you say is a couple?”
“Usually I’d say, two, but sometimes a couple is three.”
“If a couple can mean three, what is a few?” he asked.
“I guess three to five or six.”
“Then, how many are several,” he persisted.
“Several. Well, that would be seven to 11.”
“I always thought it was four or more,” he said.
“No. Definitely at least five.”
“Then how many is some?”
“That would be less than several.”
“So a couple can be two or three. Some is less than several, but more than a few. A few is three to five or six, maybe. But several can be six or seven to maybe 11.” He took a deep breath, “And then you have a dozen which is 12 – unless you have a baker’s dozen which is 13. If half a dozen is six, what is half of a baker’s dozen – six, six-and-a-half or seven?”
I just stared at him.
He did not notice. “And, how much is a bunch?”
“Well, a bunch is more than some and several, so I would say it is 14, 15 or more.”
“But what about a group?” my torturous word definer persisted.
“Well a group is more than several, so I would say maybe five to 10?” I ventured.
“But isn’t that also several? We had 20 in our Bible study group, so a group could be up to 20 or 30,” he concluded.
“Okay, you’re right!” I threw my hands up in defeat.
He refused to quit, “If a couple can be two or three and a dozen is 12 or 13, then a couple dozen would be 24 to 39.”
“Well, at least a pair is always only two,” I sighed, wanting it to all end.
“A pair is two,” he agreed, “yet a couple can be two or three, some is less than several, and more than a few. A few is three to five or six, maybe. But several is seven to 11. A dozen is 12 or 13. So, if a group can be up to 20 or 30, how many is a team?”
A team. I paused to think. “Well five,” I said thinking about basketball, “to whatever. It could be up to 40 or 50 when you talk about a swimming team,” I reflected.
“Or a team could be as little as two. … as in tennis when people play doubles,” he mused.
“Nah, the ones who play doubles are part of a team of players who make up the group of students that play. It’s some of the bunch that showed up for tennis try-outs.”
He wasn’t listening, he had gone to the computer.
“In fact, a college football team can have up to 85 people, plus walk-ons” he said checking a college football Web site. “So if a couple is two or three and if a couple of teams came to visit us, we could expect maybe 300 people to show-up,” he summed up.
He had gotten out of hand. Our defining moment had to stop.
“I take it all back. A couple is always two. And two people – like you and me – make a really great team – except when we try to define a few words.”
(Joan Hershberger is a reporter at the News-Times.)