assorted comments

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>What's happened, lately, to cause the phrase 'a couple of (days, or
>whatever)' to morph into 'a couple (days or whatever)'? Why has the
>preposition disappeared, in this phrase?

My _Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage_ (a great reference IMHO
... and inexpensive!) gives 1.3 pages to "couple [of]". It says "couple"
began to lose its "of" (and behave like "few" or "dozen") in the 1920's.

The book says this 'adjective' "couple" (without "of") is "firmly
established in American speech and in general writing (though not the more
elevated varieties)". This seems about right to me.

Nowadays we have the searchable on-line newspapers, and it seems to me
MWDEU's "1920's" should read more like "1890's" if not earlier. I find
"couple days" back to 1857 in a glance at N'archive.

-- Doug Wilson


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