&gt; Incomprehensible rubbish, made more obfuscated by the second form. Okay, X appears to be an identifier bound as a parameter. So then why doesn&#x27;t bar behave that way in...<p>It appears that you don&#x27;t understand Erlang syntax. Go back and read these two chapters [0][1] of Learn You Some Erlang, and revisit the article.<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;learnyousomeerlang.com&#x2F;starting-out-for-real" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;learnyousomeerlang.com&#x2F;starting-out-for-real</a><p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;learnyousomeerlang.com&#x2F;syntax-in-functions" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;learnyousomeerlang.com&#x2F;syntax-in-functions</a>