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!

It's really not that long ago that the French tried to make laws to Keep the Language Pure.
Guess what? It made no difference. The French language continues to evolve

What about mild soap?

Mild to me is less harsh

So curry less spicy
Windy and rainy ... less so
Cold weather ... warmer

Less harsh, gentle same as mild curry and mild weather - less harsh

Bob is mild mannered, would mean Bob is gentle.

Mild wind would be harsher than a gentle breeze but not as harsh as a gale force wind.

Milder is kind of inthe middle. It can also mean pleasant. So if it was hot yesterday and it can become milder and more pleasant today as it is not so hot and sticky. It is seemingly between 64 and 86 degrees.

100% Warmer!

Have you read the thread?

@LylaLee I have! Why? What's up?

He’s getting muddled up with curry where a mild curry would be less hot than a jalfrazi 🤷‍♀️

@FLOrenze But in relation to the weather, if the definition says mild means "less cold than expected", milder would still mean warmer.

Warmer!

It's always worth a look at the etymology:
From etymonline website:

mild (adj.)
Old English milde, of persons, powers, or dispositions, "possessing softness or gentleness, good-tempered, merciful," from Proto-Germanic milthjaz- (source also of Old Norse mildr (which also contributed to the English word), Old Saxon mildi, Old Frisian milde, Middle Dutch milde, Dutch mild, Old High German milti, German milde "mild," Gothic mildiþa "kindness"), from PIE meldh-, from root *mel- (1) "soft," which is the source also of Latin mollis "soft."

Of weather, "not rough or stormy," late 14c. Of medicine, etc., "gentle or moderate in force, operation, or effect," c. 1400; of disease from 1744. Of rule, punishment, etc., "moderate in quality or degree, of mitigated force, not hard to endure," by 1570s. It was also used in Old English as an adverb, meaning "mercifully, graciously."

"Mild goes further than gentle in expressing softness of nature; it is chiefly a word of nature or character, while gentle is chiefly a word of action." [Century Dictionary]

To me, it means warmer. To DH, it means colder, but I think it’s because he mainly associates it with curry. Mild curry is not as hot.

All these people that think in this situation mild means colder... I can't understand how you've never cottoned on? When it's been freezing and someone has announced it's milder when the weather turns, do you assume they're a bit weird?

It means less extreme. Is anyone arguing that it always means cooler?.

It would depend!! I’m like 95% sure I’m right on this. Just the English language being obtuse as usual.

If it was summer and hot and I said “it’s milder today” it would mean it’s cooler today.

If it was winter and cold and I said “it’s milder today” it would mean it’s warmer today.

Given the current season, I’d assume you were saying it was warmer if you said it now.

Well yes, quite a few people have said they/somebody they know does.

We are clearly going to have to agree to differ
Just as academic linguists do - in fact, differing with other linguists is part and parcel of the job!

DP's seen the thread.

He's budged a bit on 'milder' always meaning cooler.

But he still says it works both ways. So if today is less hot than yesterday, even if yesterday wasn't hugely hot, he's still insisting that 'milder' is the right term. At the expenses of 'cooler' which I think is more appropriate and commonly-used.
I don't agree. I think you could technically use milder to mean less extreme if yesterday was an absolute scorcher but I think 'cooler' makes sense.

So: If yesterday was 32C, today's 20C, 'milder' makes sense because yesterday was quite extreme.
But: If yesterday was 18C, today's 15C, 'milder' doesn't make sense because yesterday wasn't extreme. I think 'cooler' would be the more common phrasing.
^
In the UK that is.

No-one's been called a fucknugget today so that's something.

I would agree that 15 degrees isn't milder than 18 degrees. It's cooler.

25 degrees is milder than 28 degrees.

8 degrees is milder than 5 degrees.

15 degrees and 18 degrees are both a fairly mild temperature If the overall climate is cool like in the UK.

How is 25 degrees milder than 28 degrees when it's cooler?

Because 28 degrees is hot.

Mild doesn't mean cooler, it means less extreme.

Warm is milder than hot.

Cool is milder than cold.

Warmer- less cold