sort doesn't sort

[multics]

I was using sort to try to sort our news active file (over 60,000 lines)
and sort produced no errors, but did not properly sort the file.

Sample small section out of order:
ab.jobs
a.blackbox.wo-men
ab.misc
abolition.caucus
abo.pryltorg
ab.politics
abq.for-sale

I tried the -t '.' option to see if that made a difference and the file
was still not properly sorted.  It kinda looks like sort is ignoring the .
character in doing the sort and unless I misread the man and info files,
none of the options I've tried seem to have fixed this.

address@hidden:/home/multics/tmp> sort --version
sort (GNU textutils) 2.0
Written by Mike Haertel.

Copyright (C) 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

-- 
Richard Shetron  address@hidden address@hidden  NO UCE
What is the Meaning of Life?      There is no meaning,
It's just a consequence of complex carbon based chemistry; don't worry about it
The Super 76, "Free Aspirin and Tender Sympathy", Las Vegas Strip.