Okay, let me tell you about this thing that happened a while back. My friend Sarah and I were planning a little getaway, just a short trip to unwind. We were texting back and forth, figuring out dates.
She texted me something like, “Yeah, I should be free in a couple weeks, work is crazy right now but should calm down then.”
And I stopped. ‘A couple weeks.’ Right. What does that actually mean? I started thinking:
- Does she mean literally two weeks from today? Like, 14 days on the dot?
- Or does she mean ‘sometime in the next two or three weeks’?
- Maybe it’s just a casual way of saying ‘pretty soon, but not immediately’?
Honestly, I’ve run into this before. People use ‘a couple’ pretty loosely. Sometimes it’s two, sometimes it’s more like ‘a few’. It’s just vague, you know?
So, what did I do?
Well, first I just kinda sat on it. Didn’t want to seem pushy asking for exact dates right away. I figured maybe she’d follow up with something more specific. Waited a day or two. Nothing.
Then I realized, if we actually wanted to book anything affordable, I couldn’t just guess. Guessing wrong could mean missing out or booking something she couldn’t actually make.
So, I just bit the bullet. Sent her a text back. Something simple, like: “Sounds good! Just so I can start looking at places, when you say ‘a couple weeks’, are you thinking more like the week of the 15th or the week of the 22nd?” (Just throwing out example dates here).
Turns out, she meant more like three weeks out. See? If I had assumed two weeks, I would have been totally off. We would’ve tried booking stuff for the wrong time.
It just reminded me again. Phrases like “a couple weeks” or “in a bit” are super common, but man, they can cause confusion if you’re trying to actually plan something concrete. My takeaway? Just ask. It feels a bit silly sometimes, like you’re being overly picky about words, but it saves hassle down the road. Better to clarify than to guess wrong.
