Inconsistency in python help('string') versus help(list)?

Question

When I type help(\'string\') in the python interpreter I get information about the string class. There,upper() is indicated as a function. Yet I can on

Answer 1

When you searched for help('string'), you were looking for the docstrings of the string module. If you do help(str) or help('str') you'll get the docstrings of the str type, and here upper appears as a method!

As you can see here, the function upper from the string module is actually a function and not a method:

>>> upper('hi')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 1, in 
NameError: name 'upper' is not defined
>>> 'hi'.upper() # method from the str type
'HI'
>>> from string import upper
>>> upper('hi') # function from the string module
'HI'