# How Old is Cecil? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 12, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531 "2012-09-12T19:00:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/1 "2012-09-12T19:00:23Z")
Or is he immortal? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/2 "2012-09-12T19:03:16Z")
Assuming he’s one person, and has been doing this job since 1973 (according to the masthead), he’s at least in his upper 50s. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/3 "2012-09-12T19:11:31Z")
Yes, Jake, there is a Cecil. He exists as certainly as snark and cynicism and a devotion to the truth exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Cecil. It would be as dreary as if there were no Jakes. There would be no mature cynicism then, no satire, no trivia to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which adulthood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Cecil! You might as well not believe in Gravity! You might get private investigators to watch all the desks in Chicago to catch Cecil, but even if they did not see Cecil writing his column, what would that prove? Nobody sees Cecil, but that is no sign that there is no Straight Dope. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see a word with five consecutive vowels? Of course not, but that’s no proof that it is not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/4 "2012-09-12T19:17:33Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Or is he immortal? Nobody knows if he is immortal. All we know is that he hasn’t died yet. He was fairly old even in 1973 so I would say he is at least 75 or 80 now. ---
**Author:** ![PacifistPorcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PacifistPorcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PacifistPorcupine)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/5 "2012-09-12T19:22:12Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Did you ever see a word with five consecutive vowels? Of course not, but that’s no proof that it is not there. queueing ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/6 "2012-09-12T19:27:43Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Assuming he’s one person, and has been doing this job since 1973 (according to the masthead), he’s at least in his upper 50s. Surely someone of Cecil’s greatness would have been fighting ignorance since he could talk, or quite possibly since he was a spermatozoon, so he might not even be 40 yet. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/7 "2012-09-12T19:33:27Z")
There is only one Dope, and Cecil is its prophet! Cecil, truth be upon him, will be wherever there is ignorance to be fought. _faces toward Chicago_ ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/8 "2012-09-12T19:53:43Z")
Oh, I believe in Unca Cece alright, otherwise I wouldn’t have stuck around here for the last 12 or so years! I wish I could have had him as a college professor just to show me how to find difficult info. He (or they) is smart enough to keep very intelligent people around him, something that took me a long while to learn. I think that this is the wisdom of the master. I remember reading one of his columns (can’t remember which one) in which he said he was an “Old Fart”, and this got me to thinking about his age. So… what do you guys and gals think his age is? (If he really is one person) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/9 "2012-09-12T20:01:46Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > I remember reading one of his columns (can’t remember which one) in which he said he was an “Old Fart”, and this got me to thinking about his age. > So… what do you guys and gals think his age is? (If he really is one person) 🙂 Well, his editor might have slipped that one in, and he’s [over 60 now](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Zotti). But don’t tell him we told you. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/10 "2012-09-12T20:27:54Z")
Do you know why Cecil Adams has never been photographed? His image casts no reflection. I have probably already said too mu ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/11 "2012-09-12T20:38:05Z")
Sure he’s been [photographed](http://www.ipass.net/whitetho/edcecil.jpg). Not only that, he recruited a body double as an editor to throw the wolves off the pack – and, if that picture is to be believed, he’s developing some sort of Mini-Me, too. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/12 "2012-09-12T20:41:44Z")
Ask Ed Zotti, for he is the one filling [fictional Cecil’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Adams) role at the moment. ETA: Does this “question” really belong in GD? Come on guys, we’ve done this over and over and not much good ever comes out of it. I mean, “immortal”? In GD? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/13 "2012-09-12T20:43:09Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Sure he’s been [photographed](http://www.ipass.net/whitetho/edcecil.jpg). Not only that, he recruited a body double as an editor to throw the wolves off the pack – and, if that picture is to be believed, he’s developing some sort of Mini-Me, too. A clever ruse. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/14 "2012-09-12T20:54:24Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > Ask Ed Zotti, for he is the one filling [fictional Cecil’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Adams) role at the moment. > > ETA: Does this “question” really belong in GD? Come on guys, we’ve done this over and over and not much good ever comes out of it. I mean, “immortal”? In GD? :rolleyes: I think you mean GQ. OK, we could just say “Cecil Adams is a fictional construct first used by the _Chicago Reader_ in [February 1973](http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4010:vkh7lh.2.1) for the _Straight Dope_ column. The column has in recent years, as far as we know, been written by a balding guy with specs named Ed Zotti, born 1951, who also [tinkers with an old house](http://edzotti.blogspot.co.uk/) in Chicago.” But that would be boring. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/15 "2012-09-12T20:54:30Z")
We are all Cecil, and are ageless. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/16 "2012-09-12T21:04:42Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > “Cecil Adams is a fictional construct first used by the _Chicago Reader_ in [February 1973](http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4010:vkh7lh.2.1) for the _Straight Dope_ column. The column has in recent years, as far as we know, been written by a balding guy with specs named Ed Zotti, born 1951, who also [tinkers with an old house](http://edzotti.blogspot.co.uk/) in Chicago.” I suppose, technically, this is just the only conclusion the evidence we have allows us to draw, but that describes all of the conclusions we form about reality. My point is, you’ll find push-back from moderators and administrators and SDSAB members but you won’t get any evidence that actually refutes this conclusion. Therefore, it would be irrational to abandon this conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/17 "2012-09-12T23:52:59Z")
Cecil himself says Cecil exists! If I may paraphrase: I mean the impulse to be _truthful_. Three hundred sixty-four days out of the year humankind commits all manner of heinous _falsehoods_. On the 365th day we give _facts_ to the kids. I’m not saying that the latter compensates for the former. I’m not saying Adolph Hitler wouldn’t have given _the truth_ to his children, if he’d had children. But come on, it’s got to count for something. The giving of _knowledge_ in such a way that no credit will devolve upon ourselves is sufficiently at odds with our routine behavior as to be accounted a mystery, and we may as well give that mystery a name. _Cecil Adams_ it is. From [here](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1370/is-there-a-santa-claus). ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/18 "2012-09-13T00:01:46Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Cecil himself says Cecil exists! If I may paraphrase: > I mean the impulse to be _truthful_. Three hundred sixty-four days out of the year humankind commits all manner of heinous _falsehoods_. On the 365th day we give _facts_ to the kids. I’m not saying that the latter compensates for the former. I’m not saying Adolph Hitler wouldn’t have given _the truth_ to his children, if he’d had children. But come on, it’s got to count for something. The giving of _knowledge_ in such a way that no credit will devolve upon ourselves is sufficiently at odds with our routine behavior as to be accounted a mystery, and we may as well give that mystery a name. _Cecil Adams_ it is. > > From [here](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1370/is-there-a-santa-claus). Thanks for sending me back to that one, awesome column **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/19 "2012-09-13T00:01:55Z")
Never ask a Navy man how many drinks he’s had. ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/20 "2012-09-13T00:26:47Z")
Our Beloved Master Cecil was born, under another name, on December 25, 0001AD/CE [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531.md?page=2)