When it comes to humor in British medical journals, The Lancet is usually a no-show -- certainly as compared with its chief rival, The BMJ (which added the definite article to its formal name earlier this week), which is famed for the tongue-in-cheek research letters it publishes annually just before Christmas.
It's understandable that Lancet's editors might have felt that the journal's straight-faced, even dour reputation needed an overhaul.
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