I love fights over words. They remind me of the Clinton era and the battle over the meaning of the word "is."

Trial starts next week in a lawsuit by the makers of Equal against the makers of Splenda. For the record, I switched to Splenda years ago, when I got the impression, however founded or unfounded, that Splenda was the more healthy of the two.

The issue: What does the phrase "made from sugar" mean?

To me, "made from sugar" means the product began with sugar and got converted to something else in the manufacturing process. Equal, which has seen a huge dip in sales since Splenda began marketing its product, says Splenda is making a false assertion because there's no sugar in the product.