# Cecil Adams Is More Than One Person. Right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 5, 2022, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429 "2022-07-05T00:54:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/21 "2022-07-06T03:05:27Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > I was five in 1973, far too young to fight ignorance. And I’m 54 now (just for perspective). I was 21 in 1973, and happen to be friends with a newspaper reporter my age who is still working for a newspaper. And although I don’t know him, we have a newspaper columnist who’s even older, and still writing newspaper columns. By contrast, Cecil is officially retired. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/22 "2022-07-06T03:26:57Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > We know there were at least two people who wrote the column, with one coming first and being replaced by the other. There is also possibly a third who did the job concurrently with the second. We know this? For sure? How? It’s been confirmed of course that Ed replaced at least one earlier editor of the SD column but “Cecil” has always been credited as the author of the column. The first book certainly has a different tone than the other 4, but other than that the writing style is similar enough that to this English teacher they all appear to be by the same author – admittedly an aging author who’s sense of humor evolves into something less… snarky. And reading Ed’s posts here on the SDMB show that it’s pretty likely that Ed = Cecil. The writing style, word choice, and sentence structure are too similar to be a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/23 "2022-07-06T11:39:30Z")
My understanding is that there was a Straight Dope column before the person you are mentioning here was hired, albeit not for very long. It’s possible I am misremembering: it’s not exactly easy to go back and check. I stand by the second part, though. It’s still unclear to me if a certain other assistant ever filled in at any point, or if they were just a genuine assistant while the editor continued to always write the column. Sure, that assistant always insisted that was the case, but both assistant and editor always maintained [kayfabe](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Kayfabe), so we can’t be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/24 "2022-07-06T12:49:47Z")
Unca Cecil is like the Wind, like the Stars…he is _One With The Cosmos™_. He also likes pizza bagels. Allegedly. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/25 "2022-07-06T16:40:35Z")
Oh… he’s a him. Trust me ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/26 "2022-07-06T16:52:39Z")
Uncovering the first Cecil Adams: [EXCLUSIVE: Uncovering the first Cecil Adams on Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/133916143) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/27 "2022-07-06T16:54:32Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > I was 21 in 1973, and happen to be friends with a newspaper reporter my age who is still working for a newspaper. Well, yeah, but that guy is an immortal alien, so he doesn’t really count. And for almost all of the history of the column, Cecil Adams has been one person. Do you really think that the Chicago Reader, or any of the companies that eventually bought it, would have paid a whole team of writers for one column? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/28 "2022-07-06T17:51:29Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > well in a column he mentioned he was a teenager when they gave out the first social security numbers Not quite. Just that he was in high school prior to 1972, which we could already surmise by the fact that the column started in 1973. > **[Why does my old social security card say it can’t be used as ID?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341325/why-does-my-old-social-security-card-say-it-can-t-be-used-as-id)** > The reason for the warning was that prior to 1972 having a social security card didn’t prove much of anything, certainly not your identity. Obtaining a card was ridiculously easy–all you had to do was stroll into any local social security office, fill out a form or two, and they’d assign you a number there and then. Some of my lowlife high school classmates took advantage of this lax procedure to obtain cards under several names. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/29 "2022-07-07T13:59:51Z")
Mr. Burns has 000-00-0002. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/30 "2022-07-07T14:22:43Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > Cecil Adams Is More Than One Person. Right There are billions - perhaps infinite - versions of Cecil Adams. That’s because of [multiverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse). You see, every time Cecil makes a decision between A and B, the universe splits, thereby creating another version of Cecil. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/31 "2022-07-07T18:15:43Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Mr. Burns has 000-00-0002. Damn Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/32 "2022-07-09T03:08:58Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Uncovering the first Cecil Adams: [EXCLUSIVE: Uncovering the first Cecil Adams on Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/133916143) Interesting, but this Mike Lenehan (the original Cecil) has got one thing wrong. The column “Owen Slade’s Need to Know” ran in the Boston Phoenix, not “some paper in Phoenix”. It’s basically true though that Owen’s column was the inspiration for the Straight Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/33 "2022-08-13T21:05:41Z")
What!??? There’s only one " he’s the only " The Great Master" and he’s in Patagonia riding a donkey in his Dotage. I know he’s real he told Li’l Ed to tell me STFU. If that’s not proof, nothing is. 🤭 ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429/34 "2022-08-18T18:01:40Z")
In fact, Cecil was a subodinate to Al (He’s the King) Hirt. (King outranks Perfect Master. That’s just how it is.) [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/9lmtjQC.jpeg "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/9lmtjQC) Al points to Cecil Adams, a wad of cotton candy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-is-more-than-one-person-right/967429.md?page=1)