>select * from t order by t.desc
>
>should *always* succeed. I have more than once used reserved VFP keywords as field-names and VFP sometimes complains, but not if the name is qualified.

I still prefer to avoid the headache. I use 'DESCRIP' for 'DESC'.

the following, from your example, strikes me as funny looking, so I wouldn't do it myself.

select * from t order by t.desc desc