Why does ‘few’ sometimes mean a lot “There’s quite a few ducks in the pond.” and sometimes a little “There’s only a few ducks in the pond.”?

Question

Why does ‘few’ sometimes mean a lot “There’s quite a few ducks in the pond.” and sometimes a little “There’s only a few ducks in the pond.”?

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Answer 1

because it has” quite a” before which adds significance. It’s used like “Quite a lot, quite a number of, it was quite a show” so because it is used in front and sets the precedent it means more like “quite a few more than I expected”