"Mid": when everything is "average" and the art of the instant verdict

"Mid" is the little word people use to say that something is… average. Neither great nor terrible: just unremarkable, forgettable, flat. A "mid" film, a "mid" dish, a "mid" song. Where you could hate it or love it, the verdict lands, lukewarm: "meh, it's mid." Behind its harmless air, this word says a lot about the way we judge — very fast, and about pretty much everything.

Lukewarm, the cruelest verdict

What's fascinating about "mid" is that it's often more stinging than being flat-out slammed. Hating something is still granting it importance; calling it "mid" is filing it under the forgettable, the thing that deserves neither anger nor enthusiasm. Owned lukewarmness is a formidable kind of judgment: it doesn't say "this is bad," it says "this isn't even worth talking about." Hence the slightly sharp edge of the word, which people often use with a half-smile, knowing full well that it bites.

Rating everything, ranking everything

"Mid" belongs to a broader habit: that of constantly rating everything. We rank films, restaurants, tracks, even people, in a vast mental table where each thing gets its little label. This urge has its upsides — it helps you sort, find your bearings, share your tastes. But it also has a flip side: by cramming everything into boxes, you put yourself under pressure to have a firm opinion on everything, right away. Admitting you have no opinion, or that you need time to make up your mind, becomes almost suspicious.

The right to love something "mid"

The real safeguard is to remember that taste isn't a ranking. Genuinely loving something everyone finds "mid" isn't an error of judgment: it's simply yours. The ordinary song that puts you in a good mood, the unpretentious film you happily rewatch, the plain dish you adore — none of it needs to be "validated" to count. The trap of constant rating is ending up only liking what looks well-regarded, while forgetting what actually pleases you. The best cure for the tyranny of "mid" is still to own, calmly, your little pleasures deemed average.