# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**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 14, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/41 "2012-09-14T15:24:52Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Has anyone ever depicted Cecil in a turban with a bomb on his head? Would we threaten the Dutch embassy if so? Considering some of the ways Slug has depicted Cecil, with no known adverse consequences, I think we’re safe on this score. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/42 "2012-09-14T15:40:46Z")
As it was explained to me during my original Charter Member initiation rite, Cecil is not so much a person as a title. You see, it’s the _name_ that’s the important thing for inspiring the necessary awe. I remember it like it was yesterday. Cecil took me to his office and he told me his secret. “I am not Cecil” he said. “My name is Ryan; I inherited The Straight Dope from the previous Cecil, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Cecil either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Cecil has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.” ---
**Author:** ![sittininlab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@sittininlab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sittininlab)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/43 "2012-09-14T16:37:22Z")
Certain phrases in \*Lorem ipsum \* can be rearranged to “Cecil Adams has been fighting ignoradjknv lgnlee nrfgm.” According the the Bacon cypher. ---
**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, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/44 "2012-09-14T16:42:13Z")
> [@sittininlab](#): > > Certain phrases in \*Lorem ipsum \* can be rearranged to “Cecil Adams has been fighting ignoradjknv lgnlee nrfgm.” According the the Bacon cypher. I used to know a girl named Nrfgm. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/45 "2012-09-14T17:07:29Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I used to know a girl named Nrfgm. I knew her twin sister, Nrfgm. They got confused a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/46 "2012-09-15T00:39:23Z")
The answer to this question, as is the answer to most of the significant questions in life, is found in this explanation from the long-gone and much-missed neuro-trash grrrl: > [@neuro-trash grrrl](#): > > Who is Cecil? What is Cecil? Cecil is as the ebb and flow of the tides, as the solar wind dispersing the cosmic dust, as the pulsating cells of the brain. Cecil is the smile on your child’s face as he or she contemplates the knowledge in a brand new encyclopedia set, and the bill you receive for them afterward. Cecil is the dragonfly that soars on bejeweled wings, and the frog that catches the dragonfly as it zooms too low over the pond, and the alligator that eats the frog as it suns itself on a lily pad, the gator-wrestler who kills the alligator, and the heavy beer stein that smashes in the gator-wrestler’s head during a bar brawl in Baton Rouge. Cecil is as the molecular structure of our DNA, and also as the molecular structure of Grandma’s spinach-Velveeta soufflé just before it collapses, and the cheers of jubilation that follow. Cecil is the structural defect in your ice cream cone causing it to break and spill Rocky Road all over your new pants. Cecil is the physical laws that make airplanes fly, and also the physical laws that airplane designers occasionaly forget, causing devastating crashes. Cecil is the cockroach that refuses to die no matter how hard you stomp. Everything is Cecil, nothing is Cecil. Cecil is in all of us, Cecil is in none of us. Contemplating Cecil’s nature leads to cosmic enlightenment, and also migraine headaches. > > Does this answer your question? ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/47 "2012-09-15T08:48:14Z")
He may be dead, or moved to Florida. His last posting was Jan of 2010. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/48 "2012-09-15T23:43:47Z")
> [@user\_hostile](#): > > He may be dead, or moved to Florida. His last posting was Jan of 2010. I haven’t seen him here (Florida) recently. It’s such a small state, I assume I see everyone here at least once a week. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![bahimes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bahimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahimes)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/49 "2012-09-16T05:00:52Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > I haven’t seen him here (Florida) recently. It’s such a small state, I assume I see everyone here at least once a week. > > -D/a Along with Elvis, Che and Groucho. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/50 "2012-09-16T17:21:01Z")
> [@Billdo](#): > > The answer to this question, as is the answer to most of the significant questions in life, is found in this explanation from the long-gone and much-missed neuro-trash grrrl: That was beautiful. Yes, it does answer my question, Billdo. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/51 "2012-09-17T19:48:35Z")
Cecil is as old as his tongue and a little bit older than his teeth. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/52 "2012-09-18T06:17:30Z")
> [@Corner\_Case](#): > > Cecil is as old as his tongue and a little bit older than his teeth. As an aside, we are born with our teeth. picture of a child’s skull showing adult teeth: [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/2598/3990631783_65aa7e72df_b.jpg "Child") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfschafer/3990631783/) ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531/53 "2012-09-18T07:59:08Z")
> [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > As an aside, we are born with our teeth. picture of a child’s skull showing adult teeth: > > [Child's skull with baby teeth and adult teeth, Hunterian M… | Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfschafer/3990631783/) Awesome pic! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-cecil/634531.md?page=2)