This is something of a rant, so if you don't like rants, don't read on, k? :)

Do you want to know something that really makes me mad?! Apparently thousands of English-speaking people in North America who've never actually thought about it, still believe that "A.D." means "After Death". Just because Latin is a dead language doesn't mean that the average person can't ponder for long enough to realise that if "B.C." means "Before Christ" and "A.D." means "After Death" then there must have been 33 years of "limbo time" that were never numbered between Jesus' birth and death.

Well, maybe when it's the "average" person, it's understandable. What really infuriates me is when teachers of all people--who've been to 5+ years of university and hopefully learned something in the process--actually tell their students that "A.D." means "After Death". Maybe this doesn't happen anywhere else, but it's happened more than once in my hometown.

A bit of history: When they were making up the calender we use today, they put year one (1 A.D.) when they believed Jesus had been born. He didn't die until 33 years later (33 A.D.).

So, just to let those of you who don't already know in on the secret, "A.D." is an abbreviation for "Anno Domini" and means "The Year of Our Lord" in Latin.