[Haskell-beginners] Lazy evaluation, trying to find out when its done

Hi all, I understand that the take method will evaluate the value inside the cons cell whereas length will just evaluate the spine or structure of the list λ> let y = "abc" Prelude| y :: [Char] λ> :sprint y y = _ λ> take 1 y "a" it :: [Char] λ> :sprint y y = 'a' : _ λ> Well and good but why doesn't the same work on a list of Nums?? λ> let x = [1,2,3] Prelude| x :: Num t => [t] λ> :sprint x x = _ λ> take 1 x [1] it :: Num a => [a] λ> :sprint x x = _ λ> I expected to see x = 1 : _ -- Best Regards, Boon Hui