Using db_insert with a reserved keyword as the column name It appears that db_insert() (Drupal 7) fails when I try to specify a column name which is one of the reserved keywords (in this case, insert).  I tried finding a way to use the back tick syntax which works with a direct SQL command, insert, but it still does not seem
to work.

Googling so far has only confirmed this problem and returned suggestions to change the column name. 

Is this the only solution, or is some other way to get db_insert to work (there's a good
reason why the column is called insert in our application)

thanks!
You can try to pass column name in `parenthesis` to db_insert. Just be sure you escaped them if needed, as they have their own meaning in php itself.
If this does not work, well, you can:


fill a bug against core, or post in existing one.
use good old db_query
Or use thesaurus to get rid of reserved words from your app. There is always a "good reason" to use them, of course there is for any common word, but word-oriented languages simply have to reserve some words.