less loud vs quiet

Can you say « Please be less loud! »?

I know you could say be quiet, but if you want to convey the sense that the level of noise was above acceptable, would it be grammatically correct?

Solution 1:

As an example, say somebody has a speaker that has a volume that goes from 1 to 11, and they are currently playing music at volume 11.

Please be less loud

Anything 10 or under would be technically complying with this request - so even just turning it down one notch to 10 would be acceptable (by the word, if not the spirit)

Less Loud can still be loud, just not as loud as currently.

Please be quiet

It's difficult to put an exact number on this, but I would imagine somewhere from 1 to 3 would be the sort of volume that is meant by this.

Be quiet means either make very little or no noise.

So in answer to your question, if a fairly loud level of noise is acceptable (say 8 or 9 on the above imaginary scale), and the current level of noise is above that, being less loud would indicate that you could still be loud, just not as loud as now.

Solution 2:

In a polite way, you could simply say "Could you kindly lower the volume, please?"

It's not incorrect to say "Please be less loud" because;

1. When associating with loud, it's uncommon to use 'less' as the comparative form is louder. So we would use the opposite of loud, 'quite' but in the comparative form (quieter).
2. In that case, the meaning deviates. This is because from what you say, I get the feeling that you don't mind the third person being loud but not to this certain level. Therefore, the suggestion stated above is polite and gives the impression for anyone to obey.

Let me know what you think!