I don't Think it is :-) Tham Magne name should be hänger to add-to-list-symbol :-). I understand the obvious, I am reflecting over unnecessary convoluted explanation, and probably the design. Was it necessary for some reason that I don't understand to design this function this way? Or could have just taken a list from the very beginning? -------- Originalmeddelande -------- Från: Drew Adams Datum: 2020-12-04 18:04 (GMT+01:00) Till: Arthur Miller , Eli Zaretskii Kopia: emacs-devel@gnu.org Ämne: RE: Lispref add-to-list - doc is unnecessary convoluted > why doesn't add-to-list take a list value, why symbol? That's its specific purpose: update the value of a (list-valued) _variable_. It's all about a variable - updating its value. The doc is very clear: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/List-Variables.html Please read the entire topic (node).