# Cecil is Unamerican! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 10, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496 "2005-10-10T03:26:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/1 "2005-10-10T03:26:56Z")
A clue in [his latest column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/051007.html): > [@](#): > > Proof of porn’s preeminence? My arse. Were he USAn he’d surely have said “My ass”. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/2 "2005-10-10T03:50:32Z")
Bollocks. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/3 "2005-10-10T03:54:24Z")
What sort of shite is this, then? ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/4 "2005-10-10T04:15:15Z")
Bolocks! Now that is a horse (Or rather, donkey), of a diffrent colour. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/5 "2005-10-10T04:21:57Z")
Don’t you mean a “clew” in his latest column? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/6 "2005-10-10T06:06:41Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Don’t you mean a “clew” in his latest column? While I’m sure he’s a loophole legend, no, I’ve never thought of him as nautical. ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/7 "2005-10-10T06:28:01Z")
I’ll have you know that I was at uni with Cecil, and he’s an absolutely charming (and all-American!) bloke. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/8 "2005-10-10T07:08:45Z")
> [@La Llorona](#): > > I’ll have you know that I was at uni with Cecil, and he’s an absolutely charming (and all-American!) bloke. You mean Ed Zotti, right? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/9 "2005-10-10T07:58:11Z")
When asked to comment, Cecil replied: _“Merde! Mon secret est exposé!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/10 "2005-10-10T09:45:41Z")
Well… Cecil appears to have form in this area. In the article on [Perpetual Motion](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_401.html), currently on the front page, Cecil’s opinion of Joseph Newman’s rural background reads: **"Country boy," my arse.** ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/11 "2005-10-10T12:36:48Z")
Oh, what a bloody pickle this is. ---
**Author:** ![Arwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Arwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/12 "2005-10-10T12:44:58Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > A clue in [his latest column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/051007.html): > > Were he USAn he’d surely have said “My ass”. But these days nobody has a donkey, whereas everyone still has an arse, and thanks to certain eating habits increasingly so. IMHO this is Cecil giving us the Straight Dope on how to properly use this particular colorful bit of language, and by example attempts to lead us away from such beastly language corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/13 "2005-10-10T14:59:37Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > Bolocks! Now that is a horse (Or rather, donkey), of a diffrent colour. Where exactly do they use the spelling “diffrent”? ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/14 "2005-10-10T15:06:40Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > Where exactly do they use the spelling “diffrent”? Or for that matter “bolocks” ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/15 "2005-10-10T15:08:59Z")
> [@e-logic](#): > > Or for that matter “bolocks” When it is far after the time I should be asleep. That’s when. ---
**Author:** ![mrrealtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mrrealtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrrealtime)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/16 "2005-10-10T16:46:01Z")
If you want to get semantical, you must realize that “America” includes several countries, including those in South America, Mexico and Canada, where they would have many terms besides “arse” for ignorant people that try to claim that “America” only refers to the country that couldnt come up with a unique name and rather called its self “the united states of…”. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/17 "2005-10-10T19:34:43Z")
As opposed to the **other** country that couldn’t think of a name for itself and so called itself “The United Kingdom of…” ? ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/18 "2005-10-10T19:45:13Z")
> [@mrrealtime](#): > > If you want to get semantical, you must realize that “America” includes several countries, including those in South America, Mexico and Canada There is not continent or any other piece of land called “America.” There is a continent called “North America” and a continent called “South America” and the two of them collectively may be referred to as “the Americas,” but “America,” singular and all by itself, can’t really be taken as being anything but short for “the United States of America.” ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/19 "2005-10-10T19:48:04Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > As opposed to the **other** country that couldn’t think of a name for itself and so called itself “The United Kingdom of…” ? Oh, be fair. “United Kingdom of the Netherlands” was never the official name. No, wait…err… :wally ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496/20 "2005-10-10T19:49:28Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > There is not continent or any other piece of land called “America.” By your specific analysis, there is no country called ‘America’ therefore referring to the USA as such is equally wrong. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-is-unamerican/325496.md?page=2)