Offhand, the ZYX order superficially appeals to me, but it doesn't really make any difference to ME: My last name, "Oesterreich", is always going to be somewhere in the middle with either of those orders.

As to the height order, that reminds me of basic training in the army. The four platoons in our company were organized by height. First platoon had all the basketball giants, grading down through Second and Third Platoon to MY platoon, the Fourth Platoon, which had all the shorties.

For my sins, I was what was called the "platoon guide" of this aggregation of relative midgets. That meant mainly that when the platoon marched (usually in column of twos) I was in front, with the guy who carried the triangular flag, the guidon. Now that just might sound like a privileged position, but not so. As "guide" I was tasked to set the pace for the platoon following me.

But remember, the First Platoon, the stork-legs, were really setting the pace, way up in front. I had to push to try to keep the midget Fourth Platoon in some reasonable range of the Third, who tried to keep up with the Second, who chased the First. Many's the time I swore at myself for having accepted the "honor" of being platoon guide. No privileges, no authority, and a number of thankless duties. And only because I was the only one in the platoon who'd been to college.

Dave Oesterreich