Thanks Garrett - I had not found that part - more reading coming up!

>>I would like to query the context of the "AS" used in this Select.
>>to quote from the SQL help file - "The AS clause is the syntax defined
>>in the SQL-92 standard for assigning a name to a result set column."
>>Would the use of the AS clause, as used here, to assign a name to a table, conflict ?
>
>Here's what I'm getting from Books Online:
>
>

[ FROM { < table_source > } [ ,...n ] ]
>
>< table_source > ::=
>    table_name [ [ AS ] table_alias ] [ WITH ( < table_hint > [ ,...n ] ) ]
>    | view_name [ [ AS ] table_alias ] [ WITH ( < view_hint > [ ,...n ] ) ]
>    | rowset_function [ [ AS ] table_alias ]
>    | user_defined_function [ [ AS ] table_alias ]
>    | derived_table [ AS ] table_alias [ ( column_alias [ ,...n ] ) ]
>    | < joined_table >

>
>So I would assume the answer is "no".