Apparently even if a local variable declaration isn't run it will still shadow a method with the same name

variable-method_squash.rb

def thing
  "ASDF"
end

puts thing   #=> ASDF

if false
  thing = "JKL:"
end

puts thing   #=> nil
puts thing() #=> "ASDF"

# Edit: The work around (for the context I was working in)
thing = thing || thing() # self.thing would work too

Neat, thanks for sharing. Never knew or have come across that :)