[cnocito]

The hash table is not a good example, because a hash is not a variable, it is a function.

F(x) = "doohickey" when x = "wotsit"

I think you guys are confusing variables and data types (or data structures) too, they are different things.

[IAskForAFriend]

Would you not say that "next" is a variable, and the value, the thing, that "next" contains is a hash? "Next" is, of itself, not a function, surely.

[cnocito]

It it isn't "next", it's next{x}. It's a function, not a variable.