(defun cons-test-case-1 ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((str1 "str1-contents")
        (str2 "str2-contents"))
    (cons str1 str2)))

(defun cons-test-case-2 ()
  (interactive)
  (cons "gen-str-1" "gen-str-2"))

(defun cons-test-case-3 ()
  (interactive)
  (cons 'symbol1 'symbol2))

;; Do a C-u M-C-x on each one and then M-x cons-test-case-n (for n in
;; {1-3}), and step through the functions.  For me (Emacs from CVS),
;; cases 1 and 2 fail with a
;; "Wrong type argument: listp, name-of-string".  Case 3 still works
;; fine though.