Does "paar" still mean "two items"? Words that have lost their original meaning

Question

–Ich hätte gerne ein Paar Brötchen
–Wie viele?

That was (modulo trivialities) a conversation that surprised me. Of course –assuming the grammatical correctness of the sentences–, the baker doesn't see that I was meaning Paar and not paar, but I'm bemused by the fact that, in absence of more data, he didn't think that I was actually asking for precisely two items.

It is therefore credible, referring to this question, that not only paar means rather "a few", but that in the native speaker’s mind the distance between this word and "two items" is huge.

Questions:

• Is this related to a orthography reform? Perhaps Paar→paar (I guess no). If not, why/when did this change take place? (in case the phenomenon has been studied)
• Could somebody warn non-native speakers from using certain words or expressions, which have lost its original meaning as well? I ask in the sense of this answer Ungefähr→ungefähr.

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Edit: My argument behind the first question has been refuted in the answers bellow. I thought paar came from Paar, which I thought meant originally exactly two items. It comes from the Latin par (paris), which mean two equal. The argument only motivates the second question, which therefore remains valid.

Answer 1

The word Paar doesn't only mean two items but rather two items that are related to one another. The prime example is

Mike und Jenny sind ein Paar.

This notion also shows in compounds like Paartherapie, Paartanz or paarweise. The situation of using Paar as a qualifying noun is rather rare. The only example I can think of is this:

Ein Paar Schuhe.

This makes sense because the shoes are related to one another. Most Germans would understand this as a pair.

Ein Paar Brötchen. on the other hand doesn't make sense. How can buns be related? So a listener will autmatically assume that you meant paar. Hence the question. It has nothing to do with spelling reform or anything. The sentence:

Ich möchte ein Paar Brötchen.

does not make sense in writing either. The point is that 2 buns lack the relationship that is necessary for a Paar.

Answer 2

While Emanuel's answer is right, it is lengthy. Simply put

Ein Paar > a pair of
Ein paar > a couple/few

You then have to figure out the subtle differences, like for example

Heute habe ich ein Paar Jeans gekauft
Heute habe ich ein paar Jeans gekauft

(Solution: Ein Paar Jeans = a pair of jeans = one piece, ein paar Jeans = more than one piece)

Answer 3

Lacking the distinction between lower and upper case spelling in a spoken conversation, I guess most people would instead indicate the difference using emphasis:

• Ich hätte gern ein Paar Socken.
• Ich hätte gern ein paar Socken.

If you emphasize the number, by melody and also by introducing a short pause after it, you stress the fact that you are speaking of a spcific amount. If you don't do that, but instead speak „ein paar“ as a connected phrase without pause or special emphasis, perhaps even colloquially abbreviated to „'n paar“, then it will more likely be interpreted as an imprecise amount.

That said, other answers are correct in stating that Paar usually refers to items with some connection between them that makes them form a unit in some sense. So even if you did use the emphasis as indicated above, the baker might still ask for the precise amount. Which is the reason why I changed my example to something where both meanings are plausible.