# Cecil Adams isn't real!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 7, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386 "2011-12-07T17:05:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/41 "2011-12-07T22:32:17Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > I must have gotten my first Straight Dope book over 30 years ago. I never saw the column in a newspaper, only in the successive, paperback collections. Back then, everyone thought Cecil Adams was some really smart guy who had a funny and informative q&a column. > > So it turns out “Cecil Adams” is a nothing more than a brand name. I was a little disappointed when I realized that it was more than one writer, but whatever, it’s still entertaining. But the mystique? There is no mystique. Cecil is Oz with the curtain drawn. Pretending to talk to “him” is just silly. Heresy! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/42 "2011-12-07T23:11:11Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > The whole “Cecil/Santa” thing is silly as all get out – in fact, I can see how it can get to be annoying if you actually get involved in threads on the “topic,” especially in the supposedly sacred GQ forum. But as others have said, it is simply one of the unwritten rules around here, and one that’s not going to go away. Zotti’s playground and all that. Not Zotti’s. Cecil’s. Little Ed is just his assistant. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/43 "2011-12-07T23:18:07Z")
I answer to at least three different names that do not appear anywhere on my birth certificate. That doesn’t mean those names are fictional characters. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/44 "2011-12-07T23:35:23Z")
Now I can’t wait for the thread about Una’s conversation with Mr. Snugglebuns. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/45 "2011-12-07T23:46:41Z")
The cute fiction that Cecil Adams is a mystery, wrapped in an egg roll, smothered in brown sauce, and garnished with parsley, isn’t the issue. Una’s behavior and the special privileges she is given to behave differently from everyone else on the board is the issue. This is the right forum to raise this and I had planned to start a thread myself if Justin hadn’t beat me to it (thanks, Justin). She doesn’t post about Cecil as a member. She posts as Ed’s Right Hand as if that is a board title that puts her above everyone else. And then she teases and mocks the rest of us with that status. And nobody dares to say anything to her even when she’s being a jerk. I have nothing personal against Una on anything but this behavior. I don’t know her and I haven’t clashed with her on anything else ever. Why should that matter? She’s wrong on this and not only does she know she’s wrong on this she sticks her tongue out at the rest of us while being wrong. As I keep saying - in GQ, of all places - if I’m wrong on Ed being Cecil, then all you have to do is provide evidence that I’m wrong. You know, the whole purpose of that forum and the column and the board and everything else this place is built on. I don’t even care if Una came out and said she’s writing the columns she “contributes” to. That would be great considering Ed’s embarrassing past with his attempts at science. Or just make a rule that questions about who Cecil is are barred in GQ. Or a rule that nobody who knows can post in them. Or any rule that is written. Because I don’t care if I violate unwritten rules. I love to tromp all over them. I hate unwritten rules. They exist solely so that some people can bully others and get away with it, all the while going “Who, me?” You, Una. And Ed’s your enabler. So he needs to step in and make the appropriate changes. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/46 "2011-12-07T23:55:21Z")
ATMB just gets weirder and weirder. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/47 "2011-12-08T00:07:18Z")
What inaccurate information did **Una** give? So far as I can tell, everything she’s said is completely factual and correct. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/48 "2011-12-08T00:12:03Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > ATMB just gets weirder and weirder. Boy, you got that right. I think it’s time to stop visiting this forum for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/49 "2011-12-08T00:42:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What inaccurate information did **Una** give? So far as I can tell, everything she’s said is completely factual and correct. Not speaking for the OP, I don’t think Una’s correctness in what he/she said is in question. The problem is that Una suggested that she/he knew more about the answer than she/he was prepared to say in GQ: in other words, Una was being a tease. I don’t think that’s enough to make Una a “jerk”, but clearly others (including the OP) do. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/50 "2011-12-08T00:51:19Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Not delusional, just wrong. You would then have to ask if they are referring to Pauline Phillips or Jeanne Phillips. And if there was no real name to associate with Dear Abby, what then? What’s the difference between someone claiming have held a conversation with Dear Abby and someone claiming have held a conversation with Cecil Adams? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/51 "2011-12-08T01:04:26Z")
The amount of nerd-rage being generated by a harmless journalistic pseudonym is just baffling to me. Why does anyone care if Cecil is Ed, a group of people who may or may not include Ed, or someone else entirely? And if Una wants to keep someone else’s secret, why would anyone care about that either? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/52 "2011-12-08T01:10:09Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The mods have made it clear in dozens of threads that you can’t lie, obfuscate, or deliberately mislead in GQ. I really don’t know where you get this idea. That’s not how GQ works. As moderators, we do not police it with regard to the quality of the answers provided. If someone posts what you regard as incorrect or incomplete information, you are free to dispute that information, and provide contrary evidence if you have it. And there is nothing to say that someone has to tell all that they know. One thing however that is definitely against the rules is to engage in personal attacks on another poster, as you did in that thread. At any rate, at least to my knowledge nothing that **Una** posted in that thread is a lie or factually incorrect. And she was in no way breaking forum rules. (Given your position on the subject, I would hope that you would never assert on this board that Harpo Marx was real. ;)) One thing I find very odd about all this is how much more seriously some posters take Cecil (or his non-existence) than Cecil does himself. Many of Cecil’s remarks in his column are obviously tongue in cheek. I mean, this is a website dedicated to “the world’s smartest human.” Like, get a grip.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/53 "2011-12-08T01:15:13Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > ATMB just gets weirder and weirder. Well, you know, tis the season to be jolly. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/54 "2011-12-08T01:35:34Z")
I thought it was the season to be merry and gay. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/55 "2011-12-08T01:37:57Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I thought it was the season to be merry and gay. Would you settle for happy-go-lucky and bi? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/56 "2011-12-08T01:38:48Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > I thought it was the season to be merry and gay. > [@D\_Odds](#): > > Well, you know, tis the season to be jolly. No, it’s the season to be jelly, as in a bowl full of. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/57 "2011-12-08T01:49:28Z")
I thought it was the season to be Jolie. But yours makes a lot more sense. I mean, I liked _Tomb Raider_ well enough, but having an entire season fixated on the star seemed a bit over the top. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/58 "2011-12-08T02:02:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Would you settle for happy-go-lucky and bi? Now THAT is funny stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/59 "2011-12-08T02:27:49Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > I was a little disappointed when I realized that it was more than one writer, but whatever, it’s still entertaining. Yes, there has been more than one writer. But the first few writers were all at the very beginning, and Ed took over the column in the early 70s and has been writing all by his lonesome it every since. Again, complaining that “Cecil Adams” isn’t real is like complaining that Ann Landers is fictious, or John Wayne, or Alice Cooper. Actually, Alice Cooper is a pretty good example, because it wasn’t the name of the lead singer, it was the name of the band. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386/60 "2011-12-08T02:54:31Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Nope. It’s not against the rules to counter people who keep revealing personal information about Cecil without his permission. In fact, there’s actually against giving out said information. It’s just never enforced about this issue… WTF? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-adams-isnt-real/605386.md?page=4)