Reading the comments, it appears that there are folks in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia who understand the use of “couple” as fuzzy. “I’m going to grab a couple of things from the garage” means I’m going to grab a few, maybe 1-4 or so things. It also is understood as meaning 2 when talking about a specific request as in, “Give me a couple of beers.”

So, I’m surprised that so many commenters are surprised by the fuzzy usage. I wonder if it’s a regional thing in each country? But then, how does it transcend borders so thoroughly before spreading (mostly) to every region? Language evolution is such a strange thing.