I teach my little kids that a couple is two, a few is 3 or more, up to a lot...

I wouldn’t use “ a few” without using a reference. A few minutes would be less than 5, a few hours (or dollars) would be no more than 3.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

I think a few is 15min or less. It has to be less than half an hour otherwise they would, or should, have said "I'll get back to you in 30 min."

Under 30 min or so, but it can be context-dependent. For example, when visiting the in-laws we sometimes stay at MIL's house, but then will make plans to hang out with brother-in-law. It's not possible to get from BIL's house to MIL's house in less than 20 min. So when BIL tells us he'll be over in a few, we know it's going to be at least 30-ish minutes, and probably more like 45.

The doctor will see you in a few minutes. I think that doesn’t telll you much

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

A friend of mine used to always say "I'll be there in 5 minutes". He was never there in 5 minutes.

One day I was on the phone with him, he was on his way to my house. He says "I'll be there in 5 minutes". So I said, "Mike, I am not buying it. Where are you right now?".

He gives me his location. He was about 20 minutes away.

"Yeah, I'll see you in 20 minutes'.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

If someone tells me "a few minutes", my expectation is 5 minutes or less.

Friend.....up to 15
Boss....less than 5
Coworker....less than 10

IME, just "a few" in the OP's context (time) is always minutes. If it were a few hours, I and everyone else I deal with would actually say 'hours' but minutes can be implied. Now just how fuzzy a few minutes is also can be context-dependent ~ i.e., if I say I'll be over to a co-worker's office/cube in a few, that's implicitly less (say, 5ish, 10 at most) than telling a friend across town that I'm just now getting in my car and will meet them for lunch at the strip club in a few (like maybe up to 15-20min).

I actually can't think of a scenario like that (estimating when someone could/should expect to see you) where 'a few hours' would ever be appropriate. That would be more like 'We went to the city last weekend to catch the game/show and goofed around the mall for a few hours to kill time until the arena opened' ~ nobody else's expectation is depending on anything approaching a realistic estimate of the time involved.

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