Here is what the manual says:
PDOStatement->fetchColumn — Returns a single column from the next row of a result set
I think of the function PDOStatement->fetchColumn like its returning a single cell in a spreadsheet… I don’t quite get the wording of the PHP manual, “Returns a single column from the next row of a result set”
Do they think of a row as multiple pieces of data like an array, and a column as a single cell? Because in my mind, if you look at data like a table, the column is everything that goes down, and a row is everything that goes across.
Thanks for the explanation in advance everyone.
I think of a table just as I would a spreadsheet. A column is a bit of a misnomer when fetching a single entity, cell would have made more sense, but ‘cell’ is not a common term in DB nomenclature.
A column does make sense, if you consider a DB cursor applies to a single row at a time (from what I understand).
I’m starting to wonder if “column” is a word some people use for a field in a database. Which would be a cell in a spreadsheet? 
I read your reply again, I guess you’re right. If a cursor can only apply to a single row at once, then it would stand to reason that if you fetch the column, then you are indeed fetching a single row. Seems like a weird, round about way to think about things though… but who am I to judge?