After a recent reading of a thread here I have come to realize that the straight dope itself has once again proved my ultimate ignorance… Say it isn’t so, tell me it’s not true (and prove it) that Cecil Adam’s, a man whome I have quoted for many school papers, and have learned so many useful (and many more useless) facts from, is not a hoax himself…
I have believed for many many years in you Cecil, don’t turn out to be like the Easter Bunny!!! 
Oh, and hello everyone 
NotNow, your little poster is wrong. He has been affected by the credulism of a credulous age. He does not accept except what he sees on Oprah. He thinks that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by his little mind. All minds, NotNow, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, NotNow, there is a Cecil Adams.
He exists as certainly as investigation and research and analysis exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Cecil Adams! It would be as dreary as if there were no NotNow. There would be no ornery skepticism then, no doubting, no analysis to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood’s demands for truth fill the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Cecil Adams! You might as well not believe in the OED, the Encyclopædia Britannica or Google™. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the Chicago Reader offices on Monday morning to catch Cecil Adams, but even if you did not see Cecil Adams enter the building, what would that prove? Nobody sees Cecil Adams, but that is no sign that there is no Cecil Adams. The most real things in the world are those that have not been debunked by Cecil or Jan Harold Brunvand or Barbara Mikkelson . Did you ever see Zhou Enlai? Of course not, he used to live in China and he’s dead now, but that does not mean he was not real. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the masters there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the agoraphobic world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only cash, therapy, cash, (perhaps threats), can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, NotNow, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Cecil Adams? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, NotNow, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of students of knowledge.
There is no doubt the great Cecil Adams exists.
But ask yourself: Do you exist? Can it be verified? What evidence outside of you do you have of your own existence? Have you written columns and books?
WRS/Thû - If the Dark Lord believes in Cecil Adams, so can you!
Tom’s been at the sherry again…
Nice variation on the “Yes, Virginia” letter, though… 
You really quote Cecil Adams for school papers? Hmm. Well, if your instructors are cool with that then I think there’s your answer. Try quoting Santa Claus and see what your grade comes back as.
Maybe it would be best I should inform you that I have also quoted the bible 72 seperate time in a paper supporting the death penalty… just to be ironic. I did cite all the quotes. Though, with Cecil, I could use a cite, and for the most part, everything seemed accurate.
Was I really the only one who didn’t catch on even after years and years of reading the dope? And if Cecil is not an actual person, but more of a meeting of intelligence from many sources, who plays the hands of Cecil at the reader? :smack:
Not very GQ - where’s the straight answer and cite before joking about the question?
It seems to me that you’ll fit in nicely around here.
You’re looking for a straight answer and a cite… about the existence of Cecil Adams?
That was the Straight (Dope) Answer.
Have you ever checked out the Straight Dope Site, itself: Who is this man called Cecil Adams?
I think that the “Yes, NotNow, there is a Cecil Adams” post is heartwarming and inspirational, and I hope that it will be reposted again year after year, becoming a much-beloved tradition.
This is silly. That FAQ reads like “Oh, YEAH, Cecil is real… WINKWINK*”
I hardly think linking to Cecil’s web page counts as a good cite. That’s like linking to a 1993 SEGA press release on Blast Processing to explain what it is (God, I hope someone gets that).
Frankly - I don’t care if he’s real - I’m just upset that on a board that seems so focused at providing clean, factual information, this one topic is shrouded in jest and assumption.
Dude, it’s part of the board tradition. It’s part of the Straight Dope tradition. If Cecil Adams wasn’t real, would you enjoy being here or reading the Dope answers any less?
Real? He’s as real as the day is long!
Cecil doesn’t show himself because he has “a condition.”
Cecil just replied to a similar thread about the circumstances of his death! majorly 
Since the title of the thread was uninformative, in violation of board policy, and since the mouse over did not reveal a question being asked (since the original poster preceded the question with inane introductory blathering), then I am forced to answer the question in the thread title…
I don’t know, but you have established that there is, at least, one.
According to attractive women, no, apparently I don’t.
Moderately amusing, Moriah, but unnecessary and definitely not in the spirit of GQ. I trust that no similar post will appear in the future.
[ /Moderator Mode ]