
Governments often give money to support research into various things. There is no problem with that, provided that the research has something to do with anything worthwhile, so that money isn’t just spent for nothing. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. Some things that have been researched have been downright strange.
This is true of a type of marmot, Marmota monax, which is commonly known as the groundhog. This rodent has another common name, and the research has to do with that alternate name and a little ditty that was created about it. The second common name of this marmot is “Woodchuck”.
The ditty for this little animal is:
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
The saying was supposed to merely be a tongue-twister. However, believe it or not, research was actually conducted to figure out the answer to the question! Their findings were that if a woodchuck could chuck wood, they’d chuck about 700 pounds of wood in their lifetimes.
Now, don’t you feel that your quality of life has vastly improved by knowing this? It is good to know what tremendously worthwhile research the government is spending tax dollars on.
You just know that Congress is going to enact a law requiring free dental care for woodchucks now, don’t you?
If you are serious, I didn’t know that, no. Considering our current congress, though, that doesn’t honestly surprise me. They probably want them to have free food and medical, too, if they migrated in from outside the country.
It was a joke. But it does sound like something Congress would do.