Are you an arborist or a tree lopper? Are you a prancing, exfoliated, mocha-sipping, weight-reducing lover of trees with a selection of technical trousers, or a hairy-armed, knuckle-dragging throwback with balls the size of watermelons who lives in the hills and can barely write his own name? If you’re not sure, why not take the handy quiz below and find out what part of the Yellow Pages you should be advertising in…
Please click on the image above to download a PDF version of the quiz, originally published in the Dec/Jan issue of Australian Arbor-Age. Angus McMahon contributed several of the questions, the remainder of which (along with the drawings) were prepared by Joe Harris. As should be obvious, the quiz is intended to be read as a bit of fun rather than a dig at anyone, no matter what they call themselves.
Perhaps these two (vaguely) pertinant quotes will add a bit of (horti-)cultural precedent to the debate. “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matt 7:20), and “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo and Juliet II, ii, 1-2) both point out that what matters is the work you do, and how you do it, not what you call yourself. This may be the first time anyone has compared a lopper to a sweet-smelling rose, then judged him by his fruit… and lived to tell the tale…