By this I mean does your local paper have an answer column that reminds you of Cecil Adam’s The Straight Dope? Here in Portland a weekly newsrag called Willamette Week runs a column by “Dr. Know” that I enjoy.
Here are a couple more examples of his columns.
‘I’m Cecil’
For a long time, San Diego had Matthew Alice, who was quite funny. I don’t know if he’s still around.
Nope. Like Cecil, Matthew Alice had a shadowy existence. In 2012, we finally learned that “he” was San Diego Reader staff writer Linda Nevin. When Nevin died last year, the Reader discontinued the column. I miss it a lot.
The Rochester (Minnesota) Post Bulletin has a smart-alec Answer Man who has near encyclopedic knowledge of all things minor and major. He’s pretty clever. Here’s an example of a column: Beware of Butterballs hitting your windshield
In my town, they refer to Cecil Adams by saying “He’s almost as smart as that Fleetwood guy”
Can you give us a sample?
Thiswas one of my favorites. You’d have to be local to get the question, I think.
Here’s another random one, just for flavor.
L.A. could use Column like Matthew Alice. (As far as I know, there isn’t one.)
Actually, when I was a kid I confused Matthew Alice and the Straight Dope. As I recall, they were pretty much identical in tone and format.
Plus the column was called Straight From the Hip, which was clearly a tribute to The Straight Dope. The San Diego Reader was actually started by one of the co-founders of the Chicago Reader, so the name and logo were (I’ve read) used with permission. There are various other similarities as well.
Well, I can give you link. Does that work? Straight From the Hip Archives