Talk:John Blair (surgeon)

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A fact from John Blair (surgeon) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 17 March 2024 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the Scottish surgeon John Blair was the only dux of his high school to receive his gold medal in the presence of his wife and child?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2024/March. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/John Blair (surgeon).

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Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by PrimalMustelid talk 17:56, 7 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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Article history

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... that the Scottish surgeon John Blair received his high school gold medal in the presence of his wife? Source: [1]
- Reviewed: Anti-facial recognition mask

Created by Whispyhistory (talk), Philafrenzy (talk), and Iainmacintyre (talk). Nominated by Whispyhistory (talk) at 09:18, 27 January 2024 (UTC). Post-promotion hook changes for this nom will be logged at Template talk:Did you know nominations/John Blair (surgeon); consider watching this nomination, if it is successful, until the hook appears on the Main Page.[reply]

Not a very interesting hook IMO. Can't you come up with anything better? Gatoclass (talk) 05:53, 29 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A bit mean, but I agree. How about:

ALT1... that the Scottish surgeon John Blair received his degree for a thesis on the "Slipperiness of Human Fat"?
ALT2... that the Scottish surgeon John Blair was the only head boy at his school to receive his gold medal in the presence of his wife and child? (I think this was what Whispyhistory was actually getting at)
ALT3... that a shortage of gold meant that it was 60 years before the Scottish surgeon John Blair received his gold medal for being head boy at his school? (Whispyhistory to check the exact number of years) Philafrenzy (talk) 10:20, 29 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, much better, thanks! I will return a little later to complete the review. Gatoclass (talk) 11:55, 29 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, "head boy" won't work because it differs from dux. Gatoclass (talk) 11:09, 31 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Would "best student" be better? Whispyhistory (talk) 12:10, 31 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Top student" perhaps ... Gatoclass (talk) 12:22, 22 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

ALT3a... that a shortage of gold meant that it was 60 years before the Scottish surgeon John Blair received his gold medal for being top student at his school? Whispyhistory (talk) 18:01, 22 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Seriously, why aren't we going with the slipperiness of human fat??? Philafrenzy (talk) 19:29, 22 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Gatoclass: Are any of these hooks acceptable for you? Z1720 (talk) 02:25, 1 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

ALT2 might work with "top student" substituted for "head boy". ALT3 is not very interesting, and I don't find ALT1 terribly interesting either as theses are written on all kinds of oddball topics, and there is little additional information about it in the article. Gatoclass (talk) 05:13, 4 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Suggest the following:

ALT2a... that the Scottish surgeon John Blair was the only dux of his high school to receive his medal in the presence of his wife and child? Gatoclass (talk) 05:28, 4 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

People may do theses on any number of topics as you say, but Alt1 is short and quirky and I would have thought highly clickable. What if @Whispyhistory: adds a bit more to the article about the thesis? Philafrenzy (talk) 13:00, 5 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Well, if there's something interesting to say about it, that might work. Gatoclass (talk) 14:05, 5 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Will think .. thank you Whispyhistory (talk) 20:22, 5 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Apologies if this is going over anyone's head, but this is the oldest unreviewed nom (ignoring M-Beat, which is mine) and I expect to need to a QPQ imminently. This article is long enough, new enough, free from maintenance templates and neutral. I find slipperiness of human fat interesting (I suppose it could come under WP:DYKFICTION, but I'd guess the fact that it was awarded should take it out of that) and it is short enough and cited (on page 303, according to my preview). Earwig has valid complaints, I would encourage you to do your own research.--Laun chba ller 11:49, 6 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks.. reworded a bit. I haven't seen his thesis and don't know what is in it. @Iainmacintyre: for their opinion. Both slipperiness and medal hooks are okay with me. Whispyhistory (talk) 12:41, 6 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The thesis title is intriguing and as such very hooky. What is slipperyness in this context? How was it measured? I've just contacted an archivist at U of St Andrews who tells me that the thesis (now stored in Dundee) is not available online. My searches on 'slipperyness of fat' have not yielded anything relevant on the topic. In these circumstances I don't see that anything could be added on the subject to make this hook valid. On the other hand ALT2a is eye-catching, describing what must be a very rare event with an interesting explanation and I would suggest going with that. Papamac (talk) 15:33, 6 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I'm not schlepping up to Scotland for something that possibly isn't even due. Approving ALT2a.--Laun chba ller 08:03, 7 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]