st: problem with a macro

["U.A.QU.AP" <uaquap@gnet.tn>]

hello,
I have a problem with the syntaxe global
When I type
global demographe "one NE SOUTH MIDWEST sex_c age_c kids05
kids610 kids1115 voiture maison" ;
then 
global D wordcount($demographe) ;
I expect that stata returns the number 11
but I get the folowing message when I type 
dis $D
oneNESOUTHMIDWESTsex_cage_ckids05kids610kids1115voituremaison
invalid name
any help
many thanks
Abdelrahmen
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