data order problem

Hi, all

I use psql v7.2. I have a table which has one column called suburb( and
primary key as well) and data is such as..

THE AAA
THE BBB
THE CDD
THECCC

After I do
select * from xxx order by suburb;
It shows as..

THE AAA
THE BBB
THECCC
THE CDD

why is it not ordered by ASCII sequence. And I found if I put in a data such
as '<ABC>', it goes to last one when you do the same query.

Thank you!

JACK