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 means the temperature is less extreme - so less of whatever was dominant the previous day; if hot, it's cooled, if cold, it's warmed up.

Neither is correct as it depends on the context. Milder means gentler/more temperate weather. So if it has been cold, milder weather would be warmer. But if it has been hot, milder weather would be cooler.

Warmer. I can't see why it would mean anything else in autumn/winter.

If we had a baking hot summer with 40⁰ heat then it might just mean a bit cooler and more comfortable.

Mostly though, at this time of year it means warmer.

I'm intrigued about your conflicting understandings of 'crisp'....

Warmer. I can't think of any circumstance where mild could mean cold/colder.

Definitely warmer.

I'll give you a circumstance.... DP's tiny little pea brain is where mild means cold/colder

Agree with this.^

Either. It just means less extreme. So if it’s winter it’s likely warmer and summer it’s likely cooler.

Warmer or less cold.

If during a heatwave the temperature dropped I’d say it was cooler not milder.

Hhmmm.

If it had been cold, and someone said it's milder today I'd think warmer.

If it had been cold, and someone said it's milder today I'd think cooler.

I think it depends where you live. In the UK milder weather almost exclusively means warmer. In Africa, milder could mean cooler. Assuming you live in the UK YANBU

Warmer.
The kind of climate where the English language originates presumes that the harshness on your body is from the cold rather than the heat, so milder weather, is understood as warmer weather because it's closer to a temperature that doesn't require effort to stay warm.

Have you use the same words when explaining to him your view point?
If so I’m not surprised you are on the blink of divorce 🤣🤣
can both of you to be a bit milder?

Milder = warmer, but only from a cold base. So not 20 degrees yesterday, 25 today. It can only really be used from mid-autumn to early spring IMO.

It would utterly confuse me to hear it used to mean 'less hot'. Surely that's 'cooler'?

Surely it depends on what the weather was like yesterday?

So if yesterday was unbearably hot, if today is "milder" it's colder.

If yesterday was unbearably cold, today being "milder" is warmer.

Perfect explanation IMO.

Okay I'll wind in a little bit, context can make a difference for some people but I don't think I ever talk that way. Mild for me is always heat or how warm it feels, so it's a fairly consistent reference whatever the normal is at any point.

Relative to an individuals imagination of what normal is for a season is far too variable at the best of times. This isn't the best of times, our weather is rapidly changing and less predictable

I would never use it in relation to hot weather. I would always use cooler in this context.

Is he just thinking of chilli?

This.

yes less cold 😂

mild definitely doesn't mean cold.

Warmer.

If today was not as warm as yesterday you would say it was colder,or chillier.

It's entirely contextual. If it's been cold then milder will be warmer, if it's been hot then milder will be cooler. It's basically less extreme.

oh yeah this. milder stupid term😂