"The point is that deposit is a technical term with a specific meaning. Namely, it is the agreement between the depositor and the bank that the bank now owes th

"The point is that deposit is a technical term with a specific meaning. Namely, it is the agreement between the depositor and the bank that the bank now owes the depositor an amount of money which happens to be equal to the amount of principal deposited plus any accrued interest." I think my point and that of other commenters is that this is self-evident to almost everyone. It is not a confusion, because people's mental model of a bank (I give them money to hold on my behalf, and I can get that money back from them later, and depending on the situation, maybe a little more called interest) actually does represent this reality. Of course it doesn't represent it using the same terms because the terms are technical terms, but it's not clear how the lay person's mental model is wrong.