It sounds kind of mean and nasty to me.

it is if you break it in the right spot. mans-laughter..that's pretty silly sounding to me.

Actually, it sounds rather gruesome and entirely appropriate for the act. Killing is very animalistic, and slaughter brings the bloody dark touch to the deed.

Manslaughter is the legal term for the killing of a human in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The law generally differentiates between levels of criminal culpability based on the mens rea, or state of mind. This is particularly true within the law of homicide, where murder requires either the intent to kill, or a state of mind called malice, or malice aforethought, which may involve an unintentional killing but with a willful disregard for life. Manslaughter is usually broken down into two distinct categories: voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. Insanity is a different defense as it completely negates any criminal culpability although the mental health consequence can result in as much confinement time as a murder conviction. In the United States, this is a lesser version of felony murder and covers a person who causes the death of another while committing a misdemeanor — that is, a violation of law that does not rise to the level of a felony. This may automatically lead to a conviction for the homicide if the misdemeanor involved a law designed to protect human life. Many violations of safety laws are infractions, meaning that a person can be convicted regardless of mens rea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter

you can't have manslaughter without "laughter" Mans"laughter" ? no? not funny? I'll show myself out...

i dont think so

That's like what you get if you remove "the" from therapist. English is full of loan words from other languages and words which have changed spelling and pronunciation over the past 1,000 years. As far as the legal usage, it is distinct from the less-specific homicide, because of the intent of the action.