diff --git a/qa/qa_utils.py b/qa/qa_utils.py
index 6fa949a98bed9c5bafd160968a4a2593800aa79f..8c7eec345a923747f4f3d794c80bed44e1daa4e5 100644
--- a/qa/qa_utils.py
+++ b/qa/qa_utils.py
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ def GenericQueryFieldsTest(cmd, fields):
   output = GetCommandOutput(master["primary"],
                             utils.ShellQuoteArgs(realcmd)).splitlines()
   AssertEqual([line.split("|", 1)[0] for line in output],
-              sorted(fields))
+              utils.NiceSort(fields))
 
   # Check exit code for listing unknown field
   AssertEqual(AssertCommand([cmd, "list-fields", "field/does/not/exist"],