This one's been my occasional thorn: SELECT column_name, data_type, data_length, COUNT(*) FROM dba_tab_columns WHERE column_name LIKE 'OBJ%NAME' AND OWNER = 'SYS' GROUP BY column_name, data_type, data_length ORDER BY 4 DESC; Rich ________________________________ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jared Still Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 12:13 PM To: ganstadba@xxxxxxxxxxx Cc: Oracle-L Subject: Re: Overloading words: How can we get Oracle to stop it? While I understand your point, I don't think some of your examples are apropos. ie. segment_owner, index_owner and table owner are not synonymous. Each is the appropriate word in its own context. Jared On 6/9/06, Michael McMullen <ganstadba@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: How about the use of different names for the same thing in data dictionary views. ie segment_owner,table_owner,owner,index_owner, timestamp,timestamp# etc. drives me crazy.