lambda calculus terminology

Today I started reading Chapter 1 of Haskell Programming From First Principles in preparation for the study group coming up later in the month.

In chapter 1 some big words appear. I ask about these in the slack channel, and we came up with some jokes that helped me remember what they mean.

Say you’re at walmart Targét, checking out. Here’s what these terms mean analogically:

Alpha Equivalence: “excuse me, is coupon A alpha equivalent to coupon B for this shampoo?”

Beta Reduction: applying coupon discount to the price. “You beta reduce this coupon into the price”