One of the blogs I follow is Cake Wrecks. http://cakewrecks.squarespace.com/ Every day, there are four or five of the most god-awful cakes you’ve ever seen, all done by people claiming to be professional decorators.
Today was a collection of cakes purporting to be Thanksgiving Turkeys. My question was “Have any of these folks ever seen a turkey?” And quite obviously, the answer is No. Bless their hearts, they wouldn’t recognize an on-the-hoof turkey if it crossed the street in front of them. No reason they should. They are city folks, not farmers.
However, if your job involves giving other people government advice, you’d best know what you’re talking about.
A fellow came from the county assessment office to refigure our property taxes, and while I was leading him through the marsh that is the Rice Paddy, we stopped beside the pond in the yard. One of the snapping turtles swam up to see if I was going to feed him, and the man asked me where the pond overflowed. I led him downhill to the stream, and he looked over his shoulder and then back at the stream. “You know, you shouldn’t let the water from the pond run into the stream.”
“Oh. Why not?” (“You got a way to make it go uphill, buster?” I didn’t ask.)
“Your fish and turtles go in the pond. You don’t want that to pollute the stream, do you?”
“Um, Mr. Government Man, where do you think the fish that live in the stream go?” The look he gave me was priceless. Obviously, this had never occurred to him.
But now we all know why whales beach themselves from time to time. They are looking for the sandbox, so they won’t pollute the ocean.
Yeesh.
thisendoftheswamp 
I love your sense of humor! I could hear you asking the “gov’t dude” that question!!! Cracks me up!!! ;0P