In article ,
Leon wrote:
How do you mistake a 500 year old Oak tree for a 5 year old Ash?

I understand that another group came the next day and only found the 500
year Oak as the 5 year old Ash was taken down the previous day and the Oak
was the only one left. BUT the first sentence said that,
German council employees mistakenly felled one of the country's most famous
trees after mistaking it for a five-year-old ash.

Again I ask, how do you mistake a 500 year old tree for a 5 year old tree?


In all seriousness, probably because they WEREN'T _TOLD_ it was a "5-year-old
ash" that they were to remove



The work order quite likely read something along the lines of
"go to [location] and remove the marked tree."

They get there, and there is _only_one_ tree -- well it's "obvious" that that's
the right tree, isn't it? wry grin