Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Feature Christmas 2009: Years Like This

Will it all go wrong? Sod’s law and medicine

BMJ 2009; 339 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b5299 (Published 14 December 2009) Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b5299

Rapid Response:

Offsod and the pursuit of excellence

I read this article in the nick of time. As a great user of
Wikipedia, my resolve against their repeated requests for money was
wearing thin. They've been softening me up with Christmassy logos. I can
almost hear them say Wikipedia with the same intonation as my local Big
Issue seller. "Who'll contribute to Wikipedia? Who'll edit my last
article?" I've defended them for too long, stood up to those who call them
inaccurate or liable to censure. Naturally they were my first port of call
after reading about the wonderful Girolamo. They tried to sweeten me with
lots of other Girolamo's, and asked me to settle for Jeromes or Hieronymi.
Then they questioned me, causing me to doubt my own memory, like some
trickster with a faulty mini mental state. Could I have meant Girolamo di
soda, and when I took up that offer, how about Girolamo di sora, and
finally Girolamo di Sopra. Well that's enough. No donations. Scrooge
rules. They can jolly well Girolamo off.

Competing interests:
Niente

Competing interests: No competing interests

24 December 2009
Andrew J Charters
Consultant Child Psychiatrist
Barnsley S70 1LP