Please settle an argument between me and DP..... what does 'mild' mean?

[Limth]

You may be preventing a fucking divorce here, so please help by answering this question -

Question: If I said "It's milder today than it was yesterday", would you take that to mean:
A: Its warmer than it was yesterday
B: Its colder than yesterday

Very many thanks!

don't you listen to summer weather forecasts then?

This thread, however, seems to be evidence that other people have heard it used to mean less hot.

Correct. It’s all relative to what you’re comparing it to 😁

But a mild curry is less hot.

The point is that context can change how a word is used...

Just because 'mild' means less hot when you're talking about a curry, doesn't automatically mean it would follow that it would be used in the same way when talking about the weather.

And, as pp mentioned, usage may also differ depending on region and/or country.

Warmer. Or also would use it to describe more calm weather? Eg not as windy or not as rainy.

Warmer for sure

@SequentialAnalyst Does it matter if I cleave to less extreme, or cleave from colder? Asking for a friend.

Depends on what it was yesterday, as milder means less severe or extreme.

So if yesterday it was freezing cold, then milder = warmer

If yesterday was a scorcher then milder = cooler

Totally warmer.
My DS hates the term 'mild' because it isn't definitive. It's meaning varies depending on the weather so a mild day in summer wouldn't be especially hot bit a mild day in winter wouldn't be cold.

A - Warmer. Who says it's B? 🙈

Just because 'mild' means less hot when you're talking about a curry, doesn't automatically mean it would follow that it would be used in the same way when talking about the weather.

But, just from this thread, people do use ‘mild’ to mean weather becoming cooler after a period of extreme heat.

So many replies! Thank you everyone. I wish I'd done a poll. But there does seem to be a fairly consistent view here:
When talking about temperature as it pertains to weather, in common talk 'milder' generally means 'warmer', as way my argument. But 'milder' is a comparative term so could, technically also mean cooler if the thing you were comparing it to was particularly hot. But, generally, the phrase for that would be 'cooler'. DP's stance that 'milder' always means less hot is wrong and DP's a shitgibbon

Thanks everyone. DP's away tonight but I shall relay the conclusions when he's back.

For me: Bring a meeting forward means to do it earlier. So bringing forward at 12:00 meeting means doing it at 10:00 instead.
For me: Next Saturday means the Saturday after the immediate one coming up which is "This Saturday" because it belongs to the week you're already in.
<Ducks>

Agreed OP. If it was ten degrees yesterday, and five degrees today, to say "it is milder today" is plain wrong.

Yes but that still doesn't have anything to do with whether or not a curry is hot or mild.

I was merely making the point that one usage existing within one context doesn't automatically mean that the same usage applies within another context.

The last paragraph is totally me too! This Saturday is the one coming up, next Saturday is the one after that I.e 25th in this case.

When it’s very cold outside I say it’s bitter, so any change to that is described as milder.
If it’s very hot outside I say boiling, and when that changes I say cooler.
(If the weather goes from very hot to even hotter or very cold to even colder I describe it as “fucking hell, when will this end?”)

And now I’m second guessing the way I speak.

Oh shit. I was gonna say warmer. But it's definitely cooler. Or warmer. Or...

It's seasonal, most definitely. Milder in winter is Warmer. Milder in summer is cooler.

I was merely making the point that one usage existing within one context doesn't automatically mean that the same usage applies within another context.

It’s the same context.

Extreme to less extreme.

mild means ‘not violent, severe, or extreme’.

.

Depends whether you're talking about something flammable, or inflammable

The definition has been posted before, I’ve already commented on it. From at least two perspectives.

I’m not going to argue back and forth with you - it’s really not that interesting or important (to me, anyway). Happy to agree to disagree, or not!

@AmazingBouncingFerret Thankfully, in that instance, "boiling" does not mean that the air temp is 100 deg C, or over. (Just that it feels like it might as well be...)

@AllTangledUpInTitlesAndTiaras But which particular dictionary has got it Really Right?

Warmer

@SequentialAnalyst

I’ve run the gamut on this thread and ended up where I always end up - appreciative of the wonders of language. Never a bad place to be!