# Cecil **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305 "2009-11-20T18:01:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/21 "2009-11-24T14:27:02Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Huh. So when it says they’ve been “Fighting Ignorance since 1973,” does that date represent Ed Zotti’s beginning? And and did those others go by “Cecil,” too? No, Zotti began writing the column in 1978. Kehr and Lenehan take it back to 1973. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/22 "2009-11-24T20:51:14Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > All I know is when I asked on this board a few months ago whether or not Cecil was a real person, I got a bunch of answers and a lot of arguments. I came away from that question more confused than ever. > > Somebody writes this column, but whether or not that somebody is a real person named Cecil Adams, a pseudonym, or refers to a fictional character staffed by many writers over the years is unclear to me. Sorry. It was a game that’s time has apparently ended. Without further information, this what I believe happened: It started out as a basic pseudonym that was passed on to subsequent writers. Like all pseudonyms, the point was to retain a level of anonymity, while having an appealing name. But as the column became popular, people started trying to find the real Cecil, and, when they couldn’t, started developing a playful myth around him. Others remained more fact-based, and eventually found some apparent slip-ups from the current writer. But, by then, the myth itself was popular, and some people didn’t want to accept it. Others realized it, but wanted to keep the fun going, and even incorporated the slip-ups into the myth. Unfortunately, the lines began to blur. You could no longer tell the difference between those who figured it out, those who found the evidence insufficient, those who were playing along, and those that just didn’t get it. There was no way to make sure the people who didn’t get it wouldn’t be fooled by those that did. And, in trying, the whole concept stopped being fun for a lot of people. It seemed like a way to promote ignorance rather than fight it. It dangled on as a bit of a test for critical thinking, but, even as that, it was inherently flawed. I personally would have preferred to keep it going a while longer, by merely reporting the evidence as fact, rather than the conclusion. (I’d list the evidence here, but I can’t remember it exactly. Hopefully a fellow Doper will help out.) I specifically dislike when we answer the question when it is not specifically asked. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/23 "2009-11-24T20:55:32Z")
> [@CC](#): > > Ok. Gotta weigh in. Nothin more? Cecil has been and continues to be a very fine writer. He’s witty, stylish, and cogent. He has the ability to take a topic – sometimes quite arcane and difficult - and reduce it to essentials, all the while maintaining an entertainingly cocky and supercillious attitude that both respects and tweaks the questioner. You try doing that. It’s not as easy as it looks. “nothing more.” Pulleeaze. And, by the way, when I started reading the _Reader,_ Dave Kehr was writing the column and he wound up at the New York Times, not exactly a desert in the world of the written word. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/24 "2009-11-24T21:18:41Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Huh. So when it says they’ve been “Fighting Ignorance since 1973,” does that date represent Ed Zotti’s beginning? And and did those others go by “Cecil,” too? Just to observe that they’ve only been “fighting ignorance since 1973” since 1995. [Link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465344). ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/25 "2009-11-24T22:36:32Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > Just to observe that they’ve only been “fighting ignorance since 1973” since 1995. > > [Link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465344). The motto may have been written in 1995. But long before there was a WWW, there was a Cecil, and the Straight Dope - [http://www.straightdope.com/pages/faq/firstcolumn](http://www.straightdope.com/pages/faq/firstcolumn) My copy of the Straight Dope book dates from 1982 - when I discovered the wonder of the Straight Dope. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/26 "2009-11-24T22:45:21Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > All I know is when I asked on this board a few months ago whether or not Cecil was a real person, I got a bunch of answers and a lot of arguments. I came away from that question more confused than ever. > > Somebody writes this column, but whether or not that somebody is a real person named Cecil Adams, a pseudonym, or refers to a fictional character staffed by many writers over the years is unclear to me. As long as we’re in GQ, then my answer is that Ed Zotti writes the column under the pseudonym of Cecil Adams, and has been doing so since 1978. (He increasingly relies on the research of others and I wouldn’t be surprised if some columns are basically written by others and then re-written by him since I get the feeling he tired of the whole thing many years ago. But those are different issues.) If people want to play a game, then they’re free to do so in the other forums. But here in GQ we give factual answers to real questions. People are allowed to give joke answers once a factual and correct answer to an OP has been posted, which is why people like gazwart and ianzin get a pass. But the jokes should be as obvious as theirs. Confusing people in GQ should never be allowed. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/27 "2009-11-24T22:47:10Z")
> [@Dobbs](#): > > The motto may have been written in 1995. But long before there was a WWW, there was a Cecil, and the Straight Dope - > > [http://www.straightdope.com/pages/faq/firstcolumn](http://www.straightdope.com/pages/faq/firstcolumn) > > My copy of the Straight Dope book dates from 1982 - when I discovered the wonder of the Straight Dope. Thank you, but I don’t believe I proposed otherwise either here or in the linked thread. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/28 "2009-11-25T02:01:53Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > which is why people like gazwart and ianzin get a pass. Oh really? What kind of pass? From whom? From _you_? I must have missed that memo. Since you are apparently so keen to preserve the factual integrity of GQ, I have a fact-based question for you. Since when, and on what authority, do _you_ decide who ‘gets a pass’? ---
**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:** [November 25, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/29 "2009-11-25T02:09:18Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > Since when, and on what authority, do _you_ decide who ‘gets a pass’? Since I’m smarter than Cecil, and a better writer, and cuter. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Livardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/43a26b/32.png) [@Livardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Livardo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/30 "2009-11-25T02:28:33Z")
What’s his user name? Does he ever contribute to the boards? ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305/31 "2009-11-25T05:33:38Z")
> [@CC](#): > > Ok. Gotta weigh in. Nothin more? Cecil has been and continues to be a very fine writer. He’s witty, stylish, and cogent. He has the ability to take a topic – sometimes quite arcane and difficult - and reduce it to essentials, all the while maintaining an entertainingly cocky and supercillious attitude that both respects and tweaks the questioner. You try doing that. It’s not as easy as it looks. “nothing more.” Pulleeaze. I was referring to his “savantness”. Yeah he’s a good writer. But the answers he comes up with aren’t usually rocket science to research. And he has the advantage of being abler to choose which questions to answer. If he can’t come up with an answer to a question under consideration, he simply doesn’t write a column based on that question. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil/518305.md?page=1)