# How come Cecil can insult people & we can't?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [December 17, 2000, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031 "2000-12-17T17:44:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2000, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/1 "2000-12-17T17:44:35Z")
On his ‘how do caterpillers have sex’ page he states:
" (1) comes from a questioner who is obviously dumber than a box of
rocks, thus offering ample opportunities for ridicule;"
You would think here that we could do the same but it appears the board rules prevent us from also being so honest?
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### Author:  [@cheezit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheezit)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2000, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/2 "2000-12-17T17:53:17Z")
R.H.I.P. (Rank has its priviledges)
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/3 "2000-12-17T18:37:35Z")
What Cheezit said. There’s a REASON why Cecil’s member status is Perfect Master, you know. Cecil is Cecil. And we’re not.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2000, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/4 "2000-12-17T18:56:29Z")
You need to spend more time in the Pit, **Handy,** my dear. “Dumber than a box of rocks” is pretty mild by comparison.
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### Author:  [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2000, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/5 "2000-12-17T19:25:10Z")
Some jobs are just better left to the professionals.
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2000, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/6 "2000-12-17T19:35:21Z")
What **cheezit** _et al_. have said, but FTR what you quoted appears to be the words of George Angehr.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2000, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/7 "2000-12-17T21:32:06Z")
Ahem. I was only “allowed” to insult the questioner because Cecil himself, in his infinite wisdom, chose to quote from a private communication between us. It was not something I posted on the boards. I would not presume to insult a fellow member in such a direct fashion in most forums (though almost anything goes in the Pit). When I skirted a little close to the edge in responding to the question in CCC, **Arnold** , as is his duty, quickly and appropriately restored the requisite decorum. I recognize that if anyone attempted to imitate Cecil in most of the forums the Board would soon become one big Pit, which nobody wants. That’s what the Pit is for.
George Angehr
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### Author:  [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2000, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/8 "2000-12-18T03:05:38Z")
You _have_ read the books, right? Right?!
Cecil, the brilliant misanthrope and host of this party has been known to label idiots “rodent”–and that was in his charitable moments.
When _you_ have your very own nationally recognized column, book series and website then you, too, can heap epithets on those deserving your scorn.
In the meantime, we’re all guests and UncaCece sensibly prefers we brawl, break windows, rape the cat, torch the sofa and stuff chip dip in the CD player somewhere else.
–\>assume a patient, hoo-boy smiley here\<–
Veb
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2000, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/9 "2000-12-18T15:41:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Colibri \*
> \*\*. . .the Board would soon become one big Pit, which nobody wants. \*\*
On further reflection, I take that back. **Alphagene** probably wants it. 😃
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/10 "2000-12-18T16:46:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by TVeblen \*
> **… nationally recognized column …**
> _(underlining mine)_
_cough_ **Global, m’dear…** _cough_
handy, the answer is thus: insults can be seen as a very powerful weapon, when used by a trained and talented practitioner. In the hands of the unskilled and ungifted, they become tools of unmeant destruction and non-planned mayhem. Cecil has the skills to use the odd insult here and there without blowing his overall credibility. But if we were to let the average SD poster curse at will, and made the comparison between his cursing and his additions to our collective wisdom (as we involuntarily do with Cecil), the scale would look pretty grim for a lot of them.
Social controls, for your own good, and to keep the place tidy. The “garbage” is sent to the Pit, where our most experienced team takes care of it.
So it has been written, and so it shall be done.
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### Author:  [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2000, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-cecil-can-insult-people-we-cant/46031/11 "2000-12-22T22:12:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by TVeblen \*
> **…we brawl, break windows, rape the cat, torch the sofa and stuff chip dip in the CD player…**
**Veb** , I am _so_ at your next party!