two word choices

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:31 AM -0800 3/27/05, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>
>2.  from Erik Reece's "Death of a Mountain" in the April 2005 issue of
>Harper's Magazine, p. 59:
>
>The investigators wanted to cite Martin County Coal for eight
>violations, including willful negligence.  Thompson and Dave Lauriski,
>MSHA's new assistant secretary, whittled that down to two menial
>charges.
>
>[this is "menial" 'inconsequential, petty', not anything to do with
>servants or servitude.  perhaps a blending of "minor" with
>"venial"/"trivial"?  or just a malaprop for "minor" -- a fancy,
>technical-sounding substitute for it?]
>
FWIW, my first thought was that it was a blend with "venial"  (menial
labor/venial sins, both relating to relative insignificance but along
different sorts of scales)

L