June 19th, 2016

ID Cartoon Caption Contest

The New Yorker magazine is justifiably famous for its fine writing, with its contributors a veritable Who’s Who of famous authors and journalists of the past century. Truman Capote, Ann Beattie, J.D. Salinger, John Cheever, John Updike, Dorothy Parker, E.B. White, Philip Roth, Alice Munro, John Hersey, Malcolm Gladwell, Roger Angell, James Thurber … you get the idea.

But for many (OK, I admit it, often for me), it’s mostly just a print vessel for the cartoons. These offer some of the most brilliant commentaries on the world you will find anywhere — witty, profound, whimsical, silly — and my web browser has this link bookmarked in case I’m feeling glum.

The magazine also has a Cartoon Caption Contest, in which readers contribute captions for a drawing that changes weekly. I’ve entered the contest dozens of times, and have won the same number of times as I’ve won Wimbledon.

Oh well. You might think this brilliant entry could have done the trick:

"I need the miles."

                                   “I need the miles.”

I share this low success rate with my sister Anne, who in my unbiased opinion should have won with this one:

"You were right -- I'm STILL not free."

                             “You were right — I’m STILL not free.”

Admittedly motivated by our failure, we hereby offer our own ID Cartoon Caption Contest. The drawing is Anne’s (I’ve featured her art before), and it was inspired by a certain white coat controversy.

Submit your caption either in the comments section, to my Twitter feed, or if you want to keep it secret, email me at id.caption@yahoo.com.

We’ll judge them on funniness using only the most highly objective and scientific criteria. In addition to widespread fame, the winner will receive a free lifelong subscription to this blog.

Here’s the drawing — have at it:

LabCoats

125 Responses to “ID Cartoon Caption Contest”

  1. Reader says:

    “He just arrived from Lawn Doctor”

  2. Mark Gosnell says:

    Good job… He washed his hands….

  3. NB says:

    So glad to be on the teaching service rather than the attending-only service.

  4. Omar says:

    We want to be aware of the bugs, right?

  5. Shamim Khan says:

    “He’s a pediatrician.”

  6. Abdul says:

    Found the kidney..those SOBs dumped it w the trash

  7. Dan says:

    The worst is, we still have 3 more months before his annual cleaning.

  8. Jae says:

    “I just went in without touching anything!”

  9. JDT says:

    Dr Livingstone, I presume?

  10. JDT says:

    I wonder if we can blame this on Obamacare!

  11. Fernanda says:

    “And THAT’S why we should ALL go Bare-Below-the-Elbow”

  12. “Tough call last night?”

  13. “Have you heard about the C. Diff outbreak we’re having?”

  14. Chen says:

    Look at our GI colleague! After all, ID is not that bad.

  15. Beth-Ann says:

    Belief in the Germ Theory is not optional!

  16. An ID fellow says:

    Looks like you refused to approve vancomycin on that surgical patient

  17. ross says:

    All in for Dr. Ruth’s subspecialty, insectuality, DEET and swarma theory.

  18. Chris says:

    We’re still trying to figure out where the infection originated…

  19. Leslie says:

    This is our psychology department.

  20. samar says:

    ”The Before and After a duty” and they ask why new hospital acquired germs emerge!!!

  21. Marianna says:

    “Interesting night? It looks like you’ve lost….your stethoscope”

  22. Jin Seok says:

    “Your tie does not match your coat”.

  23. Kim says:

    I thought I ordered STAT ID consult

  24. Max Konig says:

    “He received a huge grant to develop new strategies for culture and susceptibility testing at the bedside.”

  25. Shawn says:

    “You know. It is called the Maggot Therapy…not Drosophila…”

  26. Yl says:

    Don’t worry, it’s big germs, not small germs.

  27. Amina says:

    Don’t look at me like that, just because you are lucky to be in the control group!

  28. Geeta Kulkarni says:

    That coat needs intense WasHIngton V therapy!!
    OR
    Look at the mobile Petri dish with White agar media!!

  29. Mr Pan says:

    “Had a crappy surgery? Sometimes you just have to brush it off.”

  30. Geeta kulkarni says:

    That white coat needs intense WasHIngton V irradiation therapy!!

  31. Henry says:

    He is our new intern who just answered a code brown.

  32. Matt says:

    “Dr Van Pelt, would you show Dr Pen to the hospital laundry please?”

  33. Emma YC says:

    He is very organo-philic….

  34. Wallace says:

    Spoke at the RN meeting today, didnt you?

  35. Don Davis. says:

    Pigpen was certainly proud of his accomplishments, yet somehow he still felt an outcast.

  36. Hassan says:

    Was it infection “control” or “out of control”

  37. Drcee says:

    you can spot an ID doctor a mile away…..

  38. Ben Cragun says:

    Excuse me, you two are going to spread disease if you don’t wash your hands

  39. Michelle says:

    No, no! That’s not what I meant by “have a seat on the stool in the specimen lab.”

  40. Nelson says:

    Where’s your whitecoat?

  41. Andy says:

    Oh God, Larry! Have you not washed your white coat since your medical school days?

  42. Dani M says:

    When doctors believe in good luck charms…

  43. bmod says:

    “I told you not to get into politics”

  44. Eva says:

    It was colistin resistant …I tried hand-to-hand combat

  45. Eva says:

    “Rough fecal transplant?”
    “You should see the other guy.”

  46. Federico Tomasella says:

    Paul: “Sorry guys, Louie has been sneaking in my wardrobe…again!”

  47. Laila says:

    Gastroenterologists!

  48. “Do not worry. Even dust coats, white as snow, may get a rash from Scarlet and steam with fever- blood is inflammable, remember.”

  49. Shruti says:

    Talk about the fly in the ointment!

  50. Jennifer says:

    He’s doing Paleo.

HIV Information: Author Paul Sax, M.D.

Paul E. Sax, MD

Contributing Editor

NEJM Journal Watch
Infectious Diseases

Biography | Disclosures | Summaries

Learn more about HIV and ID Observations.