# Dear Uncle Cecil **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 29, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015 "2004-03-29T04:03:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Eyed_Stranger)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/1 "2004-03-29T04:03:38Z")
I’ve been pondereing writing this for a while. It’s funny how paying $5 motivates. Dear Uncle Cecil, “Fighting Ignorance since 1973 (It’s Taking Longer Than We Thought)”. Indeed. I thought about writing something for the 30th anniversary, but it came and went, and well, I’m basically lazy. So with the 31st anniversary of The Straight Dope coming up, I have to face a sad fact. Uncle Cecil, you ain’t no spring chicken anymore. From your writings I’ve gleaned that you’re part of the baby boomer generation. So are my parents. My parents are **old**. Even granting that you were a child prodigy (of which I have no doubt), you’ve surely seen the better part of 60 years (or more). It is not my intention, however, to dwell on water under the bridge. I’m more concerned with how the bridge is holding up, because I want to keep using it. Okay, my analogies suck, but my point is, how are you holding up Uncle Cecil? Getting plenty of exercise? Drink plenty of water? No lasting effects of the excesses of the baby boomer generation I hope. If you feel up to it, then can you tell me the straight dope on a long life? Is it the aforementioned exercise and water? I saw a news blurb the other day about how eating fewer calories extends life. What about that? So what’s the true fountain of youth? So Uncle Cecil, reassure me. Tell me that I can look forward to many more years of your wisdom and wit. Take care, GES ---
**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/2 "2004-03-29T05:28:19Z")
He he… This is indeed a good OP… but one that I can bet NEVER gets answered… 🙂 Good show though! ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/3 "2004-03-29T05:41:12Z")
> [@GopherGod72](#): > > He he… This is indeed a good OP… but one that I can bet NEVER gets answered… 🙂 Good show though! I have to admit that I have often wondered at the possible death of Cecil. The man must be getting into his fifties by now, and he does not strike me as being the mr. lord healthy stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/4 "2004-03-29T06:14:59Z")
Of course we should accept the possibility there’s a Dread Pirate Cecil being groomed as we eat and breathe. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/5 "2004-03-29T06:23:35Z")
Cecil Adams died today. Funeral services to be held at… I haven’t seen this headline for Unca Cece yet. But I wonder if he didn’t already die. He was absent from the boards a lot last year. In fact he only posted twice in over six months. I think the shock of the Cubbies losing the way they did either killed him or put him into a mental ward somewhere. This new “Cecil” character just doesn’t seem to have the same old snap that our **Perfect Master** is known for. Haven’t y’all noticed the little signs, evidence that something has gone awry. Why, I recall a comment recently where it was claimed that **U/C** couldn’t even keep up with a simple two letter scrabble word list. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4482683#post4482683]Cecil speaks Needless to say, but here it is anyway…what kind of **Perfect Master** can’t keep up with a list of words with only two letters? I’m tellin ya…it ain’t him. He’s gone and hired a ghostwriter or something. What was that he said the other day in his article when asked a question, “I don’t know.” WTF is that? :eek: Folks…fellow dopers… **Chartered Members** Let’s have a eulogy for our dear departed **Unca Cece** he will be sorely missed. He reminded me of another…Tuttle was his name. ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/6 "2004-03-29T06:39:42Z")
you might want to check that link **t-keela**. I don’t think it does what you intended it to do. ---
**Author:** ![AzRaek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/azraek/32/16739_2.png) [@AzRaek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AzRaek)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/7 "2004-03-29T07:26:47Z")
Tuttle? hee. He was a Druid. Went to Berlin Polytechnic. Tall and dark. Yes, thats from memory. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/8 "2004-03-29T08:09:38Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4482683#post4482683](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4482683#post4482683) Try that one **j\_sum1** Can I still blame it on the hamsters? ---
**Author:** ![Necro\_Romancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Necro\_Romancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necro_Romancer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/9 "2004-03-29T09:06:38Z")
When, God forbid, one Cecil falls, another rises to his place. It’s a natural part of the Earth. There will _always_ be Cecil Adams. It’s the most important cycle in an ecosystem, or didn’t you take a Biology course? ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/10 "2004-03-29T14:53:20Z")
I see. It’s kinda like asking who is Spartacus? I am Spartacus…I am etc etc. So whenever the time comes. We are all Cecil. You could say that Cecil is a part of us all. I am Cecil, I am Cecil… etc. Yep, sounds like Tuttle to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/11 "2004-03-29T15:18:03Z")
I kind of think of Unca Cecil as being like James Bond. Always young and capable, always able to jump in to the most amazing adventures in his never-ending battle against his arch-nemeses, the Legions of Ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/12 "2004-03-29T21:15:49Z")
I always thought of Cecil as a non-evil Big Brother, heh. Of course Cecil can’t die, next question!!! And I found (a) [Cecil](http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gonetotexas/East-TX-cemeteries/salem/adamscecil.jpg) Adams… though hopefully not ours. ---
**Author:** ![Lathe\_of\_Heaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Lathe\_of\_Heaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lathe_of_Heaven)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/13 "2004-03-30T00:33:58Z")
> [@Necro Romancer](#): > > When, God forbid, one Cecil falls, another rises to his place. Cecil the Ignorance Slayer? ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-uncle-cecil/237015/14 "2004-03-30T00:53:25Z")
> [@AzRaek](#): > > Tuttle? hee. > > He was a Druid. Went to Berlin Polytechnic. Tall and dark. > > Yes, thats from memory. _Reformed_ Druid…they’re allowed to pray in bushes. And he had auburn hair and hazel eyes. _And_ he was going to get married to the general’s niece. His replacement was Major Murdock.