# Complete from A to Z

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-from-a-to-z/170238>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 22, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-from-a-to-z/170238 "2003-04-22T04:00:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJ555_The_Golfer)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-from-a-to-z/170238/1 "2003-04-22T04:00:05Z")

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Why do things that say they are complete from A to Z, contain things past Z? Like zipper, which is past Z.

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**Author:** ![The\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@The\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complete-from-a-to-z/170238/2 "2003-04-22T04:04:02Z")

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But not if you consider the alphabet a big loop and you are looking backwards from A…

I’m not sure if the question is serious, but if it is, the simple answer is it is a figure of speech. It is much easier than saying complete from A to Zyzzyva (which is the last word in my dictionary here, defined as a tropical American weevil destructive to plants.)