[LIConFem]

"There is a squawk button, but all pilots I know and all air traffic controllers I know refer to it as the "ident" button..."

No, the ident button is the ident button. The transponder will continuously squawk whatever code is dialed in (with altitude info, if mode C). As you said, the ident button will flash or ripple your info on the controller's radar screen.

[azhenfud]

That must be right - I recall ATC always saying "squawk xxx and ident".

[piperpilot]

right, but the ident button is located on the squawk box, so people that may not know the difference between squawking a transponder code and hitting the ident button may thus think they're the same thing.