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What about in Mexico? When a Mexican says "Five minutes, senor" it invariably always means 20, not 5. :D Mexican time.
When speaking of a couple, like a married couple, it always means 2. When saying "A couple of minutes" it generally means 2 but if it runs into 3 or 4 most people accept that as "a couple of minutes" too. When some people say it'll be a couple of minutes they expect a window of up to 10. So I think the meaning is pretty flexible.
Saying "a few" gives you a bit more leeway, but if you say a few and then it only takes 2 minutes is anyone really going to argue about it? Seriously, banker dude says to you "I'll be back in a couple of minutes with your bank draft payment of $750,000 sir" and he takes 3 minutes to get back to you with your inheritance are you going to then stand there quibbling with the guy because he took an extra minute or are you going to get on with your life and shut the hell up about what "a couple" means?
I know what I'd do.
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