Hacker News Reader

As a non-native English speaker, I’m curious about what the minimum and maximum values of handful would be (and what the items being referred to are)?

When the same term is used in my (western European) language, I would probably put the assumed range in 4-6, potentially 3-7.

View on HN

I wouldn't think about it in terms of minimum and maximum values. I'd use "a handful" to emphasize ideas like this:

- The number of items being quantified is small

- You could make and understand a list that included them all

- I don't know the exact number offhand

But what counts as a "small number" varies depending on what you're talking about.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com