Isn't language a funny thing..?
A living breathing organism changing, adapting and generating arguments and disputes over the *real* meaning of words.
Fact: The meaning of words evolve over time.
Why ? Because, as the incumbent custodians of the language, current day society is responsible for the use of those words, and their inference on real life situations.
Do any of you refer to happy people as gay anymore ? Didn't think so.
What about the word wicked ? She is mean and wicked. We had a wicked time! OK that may be a local British thing, but you get the idea...
How about experienced ? I am experienced in evolutionary computational algorithms. Or am I? If I've ever looked at one and 'experienced' it doing its thing, I am theoretically 'experienced' - but doesn't mean I'm 'experienced' in the more implicit sense of the word, does it?
Quite simply, there are many things to consider when understanding the meaning of a word beyond its 'dictionary definition'. The most important of which is the context.
Sheco's made a very valid point, demonstrating the nonsensical nature of the meaning of 'engineer'. Probably to show that we as the current custodians of our language can decide on what is and isn't acceptable use of said words. Doesn't mean we can all use something different - this just creates confusion.. however just looking at the differences between some British English and American English words and you'll see that the same word can mean different things to different people - more prominent through cultural interpretation, though even local differences can be noticed. (e.g. Jelly sandwiches in Britain would be considered weird, but Jam sandwiches are just dandy..)
Fact: Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics... You can prove anything if you search long enough on the internet... ;-)
(That's not a go at you Cajun, just a general point in case this gets flamed with 'evidence' either for or against)
Anyway.. back on the main point.
An engineer or architect in IT/IS/ICT/Computing/etc/etc ;-) is whatever the IT world expects an Engineer or Architect to be. I agree though, that we should use this sparingly. If a person is certified with known industry standards for software development, management and architecture, such as TOGAF, Zachman, ISO20000/BS15000, DSDM/RUP/SSADM, SOA, BCS, blah blah blah, and/or is an experianced practitioner, then it seems only appropriate to call them by their earned title.
Unfortunately some people seem to use terms like 'engineer', 'architect' etc in replacement of 'generic IT person' - Amazing how many support engineers, technical archtects, software engineers, network engineers the world seems to have, yet only a few of them actually understand standard architectural/engineering patterns, best practices, governance models and notations, even fewer are accredited (though I'm not a fan of education over experience - experience is much more real life, the education is a good foundation to make experience more effective, but education alone is worth as much as... well, maybe I'm being a little harsh ;-) )
A small analogy to close:
I do martial arts (Shotokan Karate at the moment), and find that many of the lower grades ask me how long before they can become a black belt, as well as arguing with each other about who stands on whose side in the line up (a formal pecking order based on seniority of grade and experience). My response is always the same... the belt you wear round your waist has little to do with how good your karate is, and even less to do with how good a fighter you are. There are 10 year olds with black belts, and 30 year olds with white belts - I know who'd win in a fight. A more realistic match is the 30yr old black belt with 5 years experience, vs a 30yr old white belt with 20yrs experience of 3 other martial arts... I have a pretty good idea who would win.
Moral: Just because you're called a Software Engineer doesn't mean you make good software. Focus on what is important... making good software.
Another funny thing about karate belts, is that all white belts can't wait until the belt around their waist becomes black. All black belts can't wait until their belts turn white with age..
Moral: Once you fulfil the proposed ability of your said title, it matters less and less that you're called it, instead you would rather focus on doing the job.
Maybe this will make sense to someone, I hope it does...
A smile is worth a thousand kind words. So smile, it's easy! 
