I think the problem is program code vs. execution.

Look at this code:

sub foo {
    ...
    return ($x, $y, $z);
}
[download]

By the definition, this sub returns a list. We all know that during runtime, it might not be a list, but how else would you describe what the sub is returning shortly?

Now this code:
my $x = foo();
This is a function call in scalar context. Now, together with the definition of the subroutine above, the sub somehow returns the list in scalar context. By definition. Which, during runtime turns out to be a scalar, because the list never existed, because perl knows the context early enough. So I would agree there is no list in scalar context during runtime, but for me it's clearly describing what code does. Whenever I read another post "There is no list in scalar context" I think, *sigh*, yeah, there might never exist such a list, but it's a good description of the behaviour.

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