Quantity and degree

A quantity needs two statements: the figure, and how sure it is. Spanish keeps them apart cleanly — dos horas escasas is just under, tres semanas largas a little over, and a ojo admits openly that nothing was measured. The phrase to carry away is una pizca de, the cook's pinch of salt. English says « a pinch » for that, and the same word for something this list has no place for: the pinch of two fingers on an arm, which Spanish calls un pellizco. It is one gesture seen from two ends — English names the fingers, Spanish names what they are holding — and only English asks one noun to do both.