I've got this

#+begin_src emacs-lisp :results table
'(hline (hi) (there) hline)
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
|-------|
| hi    |
| there |
|-------|

but then :results table has no effect on this

#+begin_src emacs-lisp :results table
'(hline (hi . bye) (here . there) hline)
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
: (hline (hi . bye) (here . there) hline)

throwing in quotes to the lists changes it to this

#+begin_src emacs-lisp :results table
'(hline '(hi . bye) '(here . there) hline)
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
|-------+----------------|
| quote | (hi . bye)     |
| quote | (here . there) |
|-------+----------------|

but that's kludge. Just wondering why it would distinguish between a trad
list and a dotted list.

LB