In days of yore, one of our tasks during
Geography field camp was to go around and
interview the various
ranchers in the area about various things that are of interest to
human geography. We (at least some of us) quickly learned (after getting chased off one ranch with a shotgun) not to ask a rancher how many
head of cattle he owned, as it was the same thing as asking how much money he had.
Oh, all right. I made up the part about getting chased off with a shotgun. But never let the truth get in the way of a good story.