Talk:Winston's Hiccup

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A fact from Winston's Hiccup appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 9 January 2008.

A false title, unless the alleged anecdote were sourced. --Wetman (talk) 19:23, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

As a response to the above post I received the following at my Talkpage)

My friend, and Wikicollaborator, on what grounds is an anecdote "false"? It may be unproven, but I find your terminology harsh. You say "A false title, unless the alleged anecdote were sourced", well, the mere fact that the title exists, supported by a simple Google of Winston's Hiccup that brings up sufficient references, makes the case by itself. Your line of reasoning, if I may generously term it as such, would consign a good many very well based Wiki articles to the dustbin, I'm afraid. AlasdairGreen27 (talk) 23:43, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

I responded:

The (spurious?) "anecdote" concerning the arbitrary boundary lines between Syria and Jordan is uncritically related without sources in the newly-created article "Winston's Hiccup". The anecdote would be "false" if it simply reflected wish-fulfillment on the part of its third-hand retailers, whether on-line or off. To the statement "Thus the zigzag, with the Saudi town of Kaf near its apex has been written into history as "Winston's hiccup"., "irresponsible" might have been kinder, for no "history" has been attested, no credible source added, in spite of the bluster, as of this post. And that's simply the fact. --Wetman (talk) 01:56, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Thus, it is a shame that the article made it to Wikipedia's front page with the squib: "Did You Know ......that Winston's Hiccup refers to the huge zigzag in Jordan’s eastern border with Saudi Arabia, supposedly because Winston Churchill hiccuped as he drew the boundary of Transjordan after a generous and lengthy lunch?"

The article states that "Winston's Hiccup" (note the American spelling) was "written into history". If this were true, the "written" part would have been published elsewhere. Is this article in fact a successful Wikipedia:Hoax? Is it perpetrated to give the impression that Churchill was an arrogant irresponsible boozer? Is it with no other purpose? Or is "Winston's hiccup" [sic] published somewhere, other than mirrored on the Internet? --Wetman (talk) 23:38, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

It's published elsewhere. I'll give you just a few examples. P.J. O'Rourke mentions it in 'Give War a Chance' (1992), available in your local library or, more quickly, quoted here: [1]. Pick up just about any travel guide to the region and you'll find it. Try these, for example Rough Guides [2] or A Jordan travel guide by Matthew Teller [3]. Patti Nickell, a freelance travel writer mentions it here: [4], and it is mentioned here [5]. Musician Al Stewart mentions it on his track 'League of Notions' [6] from the album Between the Wars, as well as on his League of Notions website: [7], as well as here: [8]. There are various other sources that also have it such as [9] and [10].

Your dislike of this article seems to me (forgive me if I am wrong) to be based on a misapprehension about what it says. That Churchill drew the borders of Transjordan when he was under the influence is untrue. That a story was told (the essence of the article) that he did is true, as this article makes clear.

Lastly, any biography of Churchill will tell you that he was certainly arrogant, definitely a boozer, but not irresponsible. AlasdairGreen27 (talk) 08:51, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Then editing those public uses of "Winston's Hiccup" into the article will give it an air of legitimacy. Over and out.--Wetman (talk) 10:46, 9 February 2008 (UTC)