title: MYSQL Not unique table/alias on left join
body: <p>I know this has been asked before but I cannot apply it to my scenario.</p>
  <p>I am trying this query:</p>
  <pre><code>var sqlString1 = &quot;SELECT 10561_12865_tblNotifications.forUserID, 10561_12865_tblNotifications.notificationType, 10561_12865_tblNotifications.message, 10561_12865_tblCircles.smallPic \
  FROM 10561_12865_tblNotifications \
  LEFT JOIN 10561_12865_tblNotifications ON 10561_12865_tblCircles.tblCircleID = 10561_12865_tblNotifications.identifier \
  WHERE forUserID  = '&quot; + &quot;6&quot; + &quot;' \
  LIMIT &quot; + &quot;0&quot; + &quot;,&quot; + 4
  </code></pre>
  <p>The context:</p>
  <p>I have one table that stores notifications that a user recevies when he or she is invited to a circle (like a group).
  But I dont just wanna show the notification, I also want to show the picture of the circle in the frontend. So I thought I join both tables together where the idenfier is equal to tblCircleID and then return the picture from that row together with all the data from the notifications table.</p>
  <p>So basically return all data from one table and also return the picture from another table where tblCircleID = identifier and forUserID = 6.</p>
  <p>But my above query fails.
  Now I dont understand why I would need aliasing in the first place when both tables are unique?</p>
  <p>Thanks for your help</p>