english is a living language

there's a reason a new version of the oxford dictionary comes out every so often. it's because english is alive. new words are created, old words are adapted for new purposes and meanings often change.

take for example

guilt·y

[gil-tee]

–adjective, guilt·i·er, guilt·i·est.

1.

having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, esp.against moral or penal law; justly subject to a certainaccusation or penalty; culpable: The jury found her guilty of murder.

it used to be that if you added "not" in front of "guilty" it meant the opposite of guilty, or to put it another way,

in·no·cent

[in-uh-suhnt]

–adjective

1.

free from moral wrong; without sin; pure: innocent children.

2.

free from legal or specific wrong; guiltless: innocent of the crime.

it seems however, that these old anachronistic rules of grammar no longer apply (or i am just getting old and having trouble keeping up). especially to high profile criminals. for example, jared loughner, the man accused (and i *have* to use the word accused here because i could get sued for libel if i don't!) of the shooting spree in arizona has plead not guilty. now for some so-called "facts". there are statements from some 250 witnesses. he was tackled on the scene of the crime and handed over to the police. the shooting was caught on video tape.

now i'm 100% behind the tenat of innocent until proven guilty (which sadly does not apply to the IRS) and reasonable doubt and all that, but i think we are well beyond a reasonable doubt here. all we're doing is wasting time, money and creating a media circus. and what's more? the judge entered the not guilty plea on his behalf.