Sorting MySQL queries

I have a list of subjects, such as "Linux", "Open Source", and "the World Wide Web". The subjects are stored in a database and being retrieved via php. I currently organize them alphabetically with SQL's ORDER BY ASC argument, however, if there is a preceding "the " or "a " then that is considered as part of the alphabetical order. Thus, all the subjects starting with "the " are grouped together, as are the subjects starting with "a ". How can I order by ascending, without taking the preceding "the " or "a " into account? ** Example: Now, the list is ordeded like this: a Distribution a Text Editor a Virus Bluetooth Copyleft DRM Fedora Firefox However, I'd like it to be ordered like this: Bluetooth Copyleft a Distribution DRM Fedora Firefox a Text Editor a Virus Current code: $query = "SELECT subject FROM table ORDER BY subject asc"; $result = mysql_query($query); Thanks in advance. Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com/what_is/world_wide_web.html