Folks, I have a simple type called Beverage and an example that allows me to construct Maybe Beverage types. Here are some type signatures for example functions: request :: String -> Maybe Beverage addMalt :: Beverage -> Maybe Beverage I have defined a chain function like so: chain :: (Maybe a) -> (a -> Maybe b) -> (Maybe b) chain = (>>=) I can do this: (chain (request "beer") addMalt) and request "beer" `chain` addMalt I think I understand why, as I use the back-ticks for infix. However, I don't have to do that for the true bind function, (>>=) request "beer" >>= addMalt I would like to use chain in this way -- that is without back-ticks. I'm not sure how... Is there something I'm missing? thanks Mike ps. Thanks to everyone for the great discussion on IO (re: previous question) -- ---------------------- Michael Easter http://codetojoy.blogspot.com: Putting the thrill back in blog http://youtube.com/ocitv -> Fun people doing serious software engineering