Department of very niche compliments
'I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want-an adorable pancreas?': Jean Kerr, The Snake Has All The Lines (1960).
Okay, I daresay no-one has ever been told their pancreas is adorable, but people whose life's work involves pancreases may, perhaps, be occasionally moved to comment if they come across somebody's pancreas that is in particularly good condition.
This thought generated by having my free NHS Health Checkup with the practice nurse at the GP surgery yesterday, who was very impressed indeed by the state of my blood pressure. Indeed, over the years I have had assorted health professionals be very prepossessed by the lowness of my blood pressure, being even told once that I had the blood pressure of an athlete ('O dear, I must have picked it up by mistake, I should give it back.')
I have also, once or twice, had phlebotomists compliment me upon my veins, as being the sort that make their job so much easier.
This seems to me a different kind of thing - being pretty much factors over which one has relatively little control (will concede that there are, I suppose, some lifestyle factors in the mix?) - from being praised for an entirely unexpected facility in some area, like the time I took a Pilates class and had the instructor comment on my good form (at a time when I had done very few, very intermittent Pilate classes, mostly in different styles). (WOT)
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