Thread: Quite a few

I've been meaning to ask it for quite some time now.
Does 'quite a few' means in fact 'many' or at least 'some' or 'few' means indeed 'few'?

Originally Posted by Ramil

I've been meaning to ask it for quite some time now.
Does 'quite a few' means in fact 'many' or at least 'some' or 'few' means indeed 'few'?

To me (American English speaker) "quite a few" is more than "few" but less than "many".

Scott

Originally Posted by fortheether

To me (American English speaker) "quite a few" is more than "few" but less than "many".

Scott

I agree... I would say this when my child has or hasn't done something a number of times, but not enough that I would say, always.

There is a difference between American and British English here.
I actually don't quite know what it means in American English but in British English "quite a few" is an understated way of saying "many".

Example
-John was rather drunk yesterday wasn't he..? How many pints did he have?
-Don't know exactly, but quite a few, I should think! At least six!

Originally Posted by Hanna

There is a difference between American and British English here.
I actually don't quite know what it means in American English but in British English "quite a few" is an understated way of saying "many".

Example
-John was rather drunk yesterday wasn't he..? How many pints did he have?
-Don't know exactly, but quite a few, I should think! At least six!

In the example if the person answered "many" wouldn't that mean more than "quite a few"?

To me, as a US English speaker, there is NOT a clear quantitative difference between "quite a few" and "many," but "quite a few" can have a more euphemistic quality in some cases.

For example, if John has had 20 shots of vodka, saying "he drank quite a few shots" might come across as slightly more polite than saying "he had many shots" or "he had a lot of vodka". (But 20 is 20!)

"Quite a few rapes are committed by African-American men" may sound less politically incorrect than "Many rapes..." (But the statistical percentage, whatever it may be, is still the same.)

And "As an actor, I've received quite a few awards" seems less boastful than "...many awards." (But the total number of awards is the same.)

So, in short, I agree with Hanna that "quite a few" is a synonym for "many", but with a spoonful of understatement -- and IMHO, it's the same in US and UK English.

Thanks, everyone, this is much as I thought.

I remember Jimmy Carr (famous British standup comedian) saying it at one of the shows, asking "Is there anyone from Liverpool here? Oh, quite a few of you" (seeing about 6-8 people in the audience raising hands).

This could indeed be 'many' depending on where he'd been performing that day.