two word choices

[James C Stalker]

MW 11 gives 2b. lacking interest or dignity (a ~ task).  With the
unfortunate loss of servants, at least for my crowd (I can't even afford
illegal aliens, grey or brown), most of us have little context for menial
referring to such individuals.  The word remains, but only the connotative
side.  I would suggest that this is not a blend, but rather a
reinterpretation.  Menial = insignificant, not worthy of attention, like
servants.

JCS

sagehen writes:

>>>>[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)
>>
>>Hard to know for sure. My guess is that the writer meant to write "menial",
>>thinking that it was an appropriate adjective ... possibly taking it as an
>>exact equivalent of "lowly" in all senses or something like that.
>>
>>-- Doug Wilson
> ~~~~~~~~
> "Minimal" & "measly" come to mind, though "measly" probably not quite the
> right tone.
> AM
>



James C. Stalker
Department of English
Michigan State University