called without any --- even if the argument isn't actually used...
Actually, you may have guessed the answer: the special thing about methods is
-that the object is passed as the first argument of the function. In our
+that the instance object is passed as the first argument of the function. In our
example, the call ``x.f()`` is exactly equivalent to ``MyClass.f(x)``. In
general, calling a method with a list of *n* arguments is equivalent to calling
the corresponding function with an argument list that is created by inserting
-the method's object before the first argument.
+the method's instance object before the first argument.
If you still don't understand how methods work, a look at the implementation can
perhaps clarify matters. When an instance attribute is referenced that isn't a
namespace; the name :attr:`~object.__dict__` is an attribute but not a global name.
Obviously, using this violates the abstraction of namespace implementation, and
should be restricted to things like post-mortem debuggers.
-