# cecil credentials **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 23, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234 "2002-09-23T04:43:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/41 "2006-01-13T18:35:02Z")
Cecil has multiple children, “the little researchers”. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/42 "2006-01-13T21:04:34Z")
Cecil LOVES cats! ---
**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:** [January 13, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/43 "2006-01-13T23:36:03Z")
> [@Mathochist](#): > > Sez a leading contender? Very flattering, but whenever Cecil has used information from me in one of his columns he has either quoted me directly or attributed it to me by name. He does the same with other Staff members. If I were ghostwriting Cecil’s columns, I assure you I would not bother to indulge in this kind of subterfuge. > [@mr. jp](#): > > Is it? Dont you find it weird then, that Cecil’s coloumns are much better written than the staff reports? Hey, not _all_ of them! Some are only slightly better written! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/44 "2006-01-14T02:39:20Z")
Since I handle the administration of the Staff Reports, I can state absolutely that: (1) Cecil writes his own columns, and **Ed Zotti** edits them. Sometimes, Cecil (or Ed) ask for a brief assist from Staff; when that happens, we’re almost always cited, as Colibri says. Sometimes, SDSAB are called upon to provide information or run experiments (as the famous [If you flex your muscle when a mosquito bites you, will it swell up and explode?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_206.html) or [Is it true a duck’s quack won’t echo?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_071.html) (2) Staff members write the Staff Reports, also edited by **Ed Zotti.** Thus, it is possible that there might be perceived similarities between Staff Reports and Cecil’s columns, but these arise from having the same editor… not the same writer. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/45 "2006-01-14T07:17:17Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > Cecil write’s about baby boomers a lot, but where does he say he is one? The [closest I’ve found](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_114b.html) is > But he does say he was in Evans’ lit course: > That lit course was offered in the late 40s. Baby boomers are generally from '46-'64. So unless Cecil was 2 years old as a freshman, he can’t be both. > > But I could definitely read that as him being a _pre_ baby boomer. Suppose he did take Evans course in, say, 1948. Further suppose that he took it when he was 18. That would mean he was born in 1930, making him 76 years old now and 33 when he started the column. It was established in [this thread about his Shakespeare column](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=339726) that Cecil went to Northwestern University sometime before 1978, and that, purely by coincidence, Ed Zotti graduated from Northwestern in 1973. Were you just mentioning that the lit course was offered in the late 1940s as an option? I mean, that wasn’t the _only_ time it was offered, right? ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/46 "2006-01-14T09:20:45Z")
“Hey, not all of them! Some are only slightly better written!” Yeah, that’s true. Anyway, I didn’t mean any offence. I read the staff reports with pleasure as well. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/47 "2006-01-14T12:47:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Cecil went to Northwestern University sometime before 1978, and that, purely by coincidence, Ed Zotti graduated from Northwestern in 1973. … as did thousands of other people who live in the Chicago area. Coincidentally, both my wife and I got degrees from Northwestern in 1973 as well. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/48 "2006-01-14T14:45:42Z")
> [@mr. jp](#): > > Yeah, that’s true. Anyway, I didn’t mean any offence. I read the staff reports with pleasure as well. It should be remembered that Cecil is a professional writer of long standing, while most SDSAB are not. (I at times have been a professional science writer for the general public in addition to being an ornithologist.) Of course Cecil’s columns are going to be more polished than most Staff articles. Also, Cecil’s columns are intended for publication in print in weekly newspapers and thus have a length limitation. Staff Reports are only published on line, and hence have no specific length limit and can afford to go into more technical detail. ---
**Author:** ![Stentor\_2.5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Stentor\_2.5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stentor_2.5)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/49 "2006-01-14T18:57:11Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > But I could definitely read that as him being a _pre_ baby boomer. Suppose he did take Evans course in, say, 1948. Further suppose that he took it when he was 18. That would mean he was born in 1930, making him 76 years old now and 33 when he started the column. > > Lots of assumptions, but actually quite reasonable, if you ask me. . . . and then he took off his mask and said, “I am not the great Cecil Adams”. As it turned out, the first Cecil Adams had retired years ago, and was living like a king in Patagonia . . . Just kidding. Cecil Lives! ---
**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:** [January 14, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/50 "2006-01-14T21:49:54Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > Cecil write’s about baby boomers a lot, but where does he say he is one? The [closest I’ve found](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_114b.html) is > But he does say he was in Evans’ lit course: > That lit course was offered in the late 40s. Baby boomers are generally from '46-'64. So unless Cecil was 2 years old as a freshman, he can’t be both. > > But I could definitely read that as him being a _pre_ baby boomer. Suppose he did take Evans course in, say, 1948. Further suppose that he took it when he was 18. That would mean he was born in 1930, making him 76 years old now and 33 when he started the column. > > Lots of assumptions, but actually quite reasonable, if you ask me. Not to me. 1973 was 33 years ago, not 43 (76-33) years ago. So Cecil would have been 43 when the column started. Does anybody believe this? ---
**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:** [January 14, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/51 "2006-01-14T21:59:22Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > Of any type. > Including the thread type. Cecil isn’t a Mod. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234/52 "2006-01-14T22:21:42Z")
> [@flight](#): > > Cecil has multiple children, “the little researchers”. Interestingly, when an old thread I was involved with resulted in an “unanswerable” question, I submitted it to Cecil and before it was published, I was contacted by one of the staff as a possible expert on the subject, because of my involvement in the thread–the staff person had not been informed of the source of the question, I’m pretty sure. Like I said earlier, he just is \* \* 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234.md?page=2)