odd difference calling function from class or instance variable

[GregS]

Thanks to both of you for your incredibly prompt replies.  My homework 
for tonight is to digest the descriptor protocol...

Peter, thanks for suggesting using staticmethod() to get the behaviour 
I was expecting.  I've only used staticmethod as a decorator before now.

Chris, I agree that it's not every day you assign functions to class 
attributes, but it does have its uses (I won't bore you with mine).  
Now that I know how it treads on the toes of Python's method magic, I 
can decide whether it's the best approach or not.

Thanks again,

Greg