Gentlemen?

There it was again. The misuse of an English word. A word that once was reserved for a male who displayed certain admirable characteristics. Someone was being interviewed on a television news show and used the word "gentleman" in reference to a criminal. Oh? Did a well bred, well mannered man adopt a criminal lifestyle? And if he did, wouldn't he have lost his gentleman status? At work I get reports on new admissions, homeless drug addicts, that begin, "This gentleman..." When did the meaning of gentleman change to include any form of the male species? What is wrong with calling a man a man? Or a fellow? Or a guy? Is this entropy of our mother tongue or is this falsely polite term due to that American euphemistic blunder, political correctness? It was in the sixties that the lyrics "How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?" were musically and culturally in vogue. Being called a man was a good thing. Language and politics, culture and times change, and sometimes I am dragged along, kicking and screaming.