# Cockroaches, Cecil, & Arson

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-cecil-arson/320261>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [September 5, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-cecil-arson/320261 "2005-09-05T23:07:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**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:** [September 5, 2005, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-cecil-arson/320261/1 "2005-09-05T23:07:42Z")

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In [THIS COLUMN](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_019.html), Unca **Cecil** contemplates arson as a means of disposing of creepy-crawlys.

[THIS WOMAN](http://www.davesdaily.com/outrss2.php?id=8954) combined **Cecil’s** pyromania with a stunt from an old James Bond movie to kill, not roaches, but spiders.

With predictable results.

The best laid plans aft time go agley. But hey! The spiders _are_ dead! **Cecil** was right again!

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**Author:** ![Big\_Whistle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Big\_Whistle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Whistle)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-cecil-arson/320261/2 "2005-09-06T12:03:19Z")

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“The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men  
Gang aft a-gley,”

Robert Burns

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-cecil-arson/320261/3 "2005-09-06T12:56:11Z")

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Remarkably similar to the method we used in the basement of my fraternity in college. In Corvallis, Oregon, they have these enormous Oriental cockroaches that are three times the size of the puny German brown roaches common to the rest of the country, some up to 2 inches in length… There was a rumor that they had escaped from pesticide research at OSU. But anyway, we would squirt them with lighter fluid and watch their flaming carcasses scurry around the concrete floor, only causing consternation when they found their way under the sofa. The wild thing was, some of them survived and escaped into cracks and crannies. We recognized them later by their scorched carapaces, marked for life in the endless war between human and arthropod.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-cecil-arson/320261/4 "2005-09-06T13:49:56Z")

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Since reading this column in the first Straight Dope compilation, this sentence:

> [@](#):
>
> There are two proven approaches to dealing with la cucaracha: (1) borax, and (2) arson.

…has never failed to crack me up.

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**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cockroaches-cecil-arson/320261/5 "2005-09-08T14:19:04Z")

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> [@Big Whistle](#):
>
> “The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men  
> Gang aft a-gley,”
> 
> Robert Burns

“Gang aft a-gley” is Scottish for “get pregnant”. 😃

not