mysql DATE_FORMAT() question

I ran the commands: CREATE TABLE testtable ( testdate DATETIME); INSERT INTO testtable (testdate) VALUES (now()); and then I want to select it but format it to show the date only (not the time, and yes I know I could use DATE instead of DATETIME, but there may be cases where I need to show the time also). So I run: select DATE_FORMAT(testdate, '%m\-%d\-%Y') from testtable AS date_column; +-------------------------------------+ | DATE_FORMAT(testdate, '%m\-%d\-%Y') | +-------------------------------------+

| 12-12-2007                          |

+-------------------------------------+ now my question is, why is the column heading DATE_FORMAT(testdate, '%m\-%d\-%Y') even though I told it to be called date_column?