fine distinction

In the New York case, meanwhile, the justices relied on the fine distinction that most of Percoco’s malfeasance occurred during a brief interregnum between stints in state government, while he was working on Cuomo’s reelection campaign as a technically private citizen.

"The fine distinction, if any, between 'Deputy Gangs' and 'Deputy Cliques' is not important," the report said.

And if it wasn’t for OSHA, there wouldn’t be nearly the precautions that we’d see around sharp equipment and machinery, of children in the workplace—it’s just a lot of things that I think we all know need to be regulated and why this isn’t one of them, because of this fine distinction that they’re trying to draw, which says, “Well, this isn’t a workplace hazard. This is a hazard hazard.”

No, I don’t think it’s fear so much as unfamiliarity, as a few readers suggested, though admittedly, what separates these feelings can sometimes be a fine distinction.

“But say we have a certain amount of empirical evidence. Let’s say we know, for instance, that x amount of the drug in question is enough to affect a seventy-pound animal and another, slightly larger amount is sufficient to kill it. I’ve figured out a rough formula, but still we are talking about a very fine distinction. So, knowing this much, how do I go about calculating the rest?”