NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: Prestigious Journal Punked
Elaine Murphy, a doctor and member of The House of Lords, confessed that she and her husband John concocted an ailment they dubbed “cello scrotum” – purportedly caused by chafing while playing the instrument - after reading a 1974 letter published in the British Medical Journal about "guitarist's nipple," reports CNN:
"Reading (Dr) Curtis's 1974 letter to the BMJ on guitar nipple, we thought it highly likely to be a spoof and decided to go one further by submitting a letter pretending to have noted a similar phenomenon in cellists, signed by the non-doctor one of us.
"Anyone who has ever watched a cello being played would realize the physical impossibility of our claim."
The Murphys’ letter was cited in a research paper published in BMJ last year, and she didn’t want other researchers to keep using it as an authoritative source.
[Hat Tip: The Heel, an Ivy-educated attorney with a prestigious New York firm, and occasional contributor to this blog.]
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