[Ads-l] Convict

[Jonathan Lighter]

That's an "ex-convict."

JL

On Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 7:03 PM Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> I saw the following headline in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal:
>
> Ruling Weakens Gun Ban for Convicts.
>
> I would expect a pretty strong gun ban for convicts, since the word means
> convicted of a crime AND serving the sentence.
>
> The gentleman in question pleaded guilty to $2,500 of food stamp fraud in
> 1995. He has not been incarcerated for a long time.
>
> Has "convict" shifted its meaning to mean simply someone convicted of a
> crime at some time in the past?
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org