[Axiom] Bug or feature of max

Dear all,

I would like to prevent the max operator to be reduce
when there is no order between two operands.

Here is a minimal example:
(1) -> max(a,b)
(1) ->
(1) b
Type: Symbol
How did he deduce than symbol 'b' is greater than 'a'.
I imagin that the implantation of max is something
like
max(x,y) == if x > y then return x else return y
and because a is not greater than b, it returns b.

I would like to have a 'mymax' such that it does not
reduce when values can not be compared. Any idea ?

Thank in advance,
Marc Boyer
.