06-07-2003, 01:59 AM
Oops, I'm chagrined. Allow me to retract "the thrid century A.D." as an example of tautology and instead simply use it as an example of an incongruity engendered by abbreviation. Spelled out it yields "the third century in the year of our Lord", and since a century can not take place within a single year is incongruent (or is it better described as oxymoronic?). Just a punctilio served up to illustrate information loss. One can't substitute C.E. (common era) for A.D. and create the same error.