# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/21 "2012-09-13T00:43:11Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Nobody knows if he is immortal. All we know is that he hasn’t died yet. Looking good so far! ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/22 "2012-09-13T03:26:30Z")
> [@colonial](#): > > Our Beloved Master Cecil was born, under another name, on December 25, 0001AD/CE Cool! Just a few years after Jesus. I wonder if they knew one another? ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/23 "2012-09-13T03:30:58Z")
Slight tangent, seeing the post about Cecil’s snark. There was a thread somewhere on the SDMB not too long ago about the role and appropriateness of condescension in education/edification. Where is that thread now? Anyone have it bookmarked? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/24 "2012-09-13T04:44:51Z")
Knowing how old the actor is doesn’t tell us how old the character is. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/25 "2012-09-13T05:13:05Z")
If you ask me, he’ll never be de-Cece’d. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/26 "2012-09-13T06:17:35Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I think you mean GQ. Right. > [@](#): > > 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.” Correct. I suggest we make that a sticky. > [@](#): > > But that would be boring. Different strokes… ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/27 "2012-09-13T11:00:47Z")
Moved from GQ to ATMB. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/28 "2012-09-13T11:43:57Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Knowing how old the actor is doesn’t tell us how old the character is. True for every case _except_ Katharine Hepburn. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/29 "2012-09-13T15:25:11Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Cool! Just a few years after Jesus. I wonder if they knew one another? Cecil didn’t know Jesus, but he knew **of** him. Every time he’d preach, his disciples would come to Cecil afterward, and they’d be all like, “What’s a Samaritan? When is the eleventh hour, and why is it such a popular time to hire workers? Is it true that you can’t put old wine in new wineskins?” ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/30 "2012-09-13T15:33:40Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Or is he immortal? I would say he’s amortal. ---
**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 13, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/31 "2012-09-13T15:34:09Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Cecil didn’t know Jesus, but he knew **of** him. Every time he’d preach, his disciples would come to Cecil afterward, and they’d be all like, “What’s a Samaritan? When is the eleventh hour, and why is it such a popular time to hire workers? Is it true that you can’t put old wine in new wineskins?” And they asked of Cecil, “Speak to us of strong drink”. And Cecil replied, “Teeming Millions, have you ever seen an animal stumbling in a ditch, unsure of it’s direction, unable to walk?” And they replied, “No, Cecil, we have not.” And Cecil said to them, “Then you haven’t seen my horse.” ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/32 "2012-09-13T15:40:13Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > 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_ Has anyone ever depicted Cecil in a turban with a bomb on his head? Would we threaten the Dutch embassy if so? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/33 "2012-09-13T16:04:31Z")
Cecil has the wisdom of the ages. this offers a couple possibilities. Cecil is really old (in order to have read lots of written knowledge) and a speed reader (in order to have read lots of written knowledge) and a non-deteriorating mind (in order to recall lots of written knowledge). Cecil is a huge super computer (both start with the letter c, coincidence? i think not.) with all the wikis of the world, Wolfram research and all the data from all the government computer systems in the world. those are not the most likely in my opinion. i think Cecil is a collaborative effort of all the faculty of the University of Chicago (both start with the letter c, coincidence? i think not.). maybe a bunch of alumni too. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/34 "2012-09-13T17:23:07Z")
Cecil MUST be real… He’s in the newspapers! 😉 Thanks, all, for the responses. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/35 "2012-09-13T17:44:41Z")
Cecil is first mentioned in ancient Babylonian tablets. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/36 "2012-09-14T05:27:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > 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. _There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy._ ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/37 "2012-09-14T10:43:51Z")
I believe it’s a matter of common knowledge that we’re on our third Cecil now, Mike Lenehan being the first incarnation, Dave Kehr the second and Ed Zotti the third. Whether there is a fourth waiting in the wings to step into the breach when Ed Zotti shuffles off this mortal coil or moves on to fresh woods and pastures new is unknown. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/38 "2012-09-14T11:53:37Z")
Cecil is like Keyser Soze. The greatest trick he ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/39 "2012-09-14T13:47:42Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Do you know why Cecil Adams has never been photographed? [“one of the very rare known sightings of Mr. Adams”](http://www.nouilles.info/sdpix/31.html) ---
**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 14, 2012, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/40 "2012-09-14T13:54:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [“one of the very rare known sightings of Mr. Adams”](http://www.nouilles.info/sdpix/31.html) Obviously Photoshopped. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531.md?page=3)