Probably this question is difficult to answer because there isn’t that much info about him and his personal life, but with what you have read in his answers how old you would think he is?
Without offense I think he must be in his sixties, to master that much knowledge you must be in my opinion thirty, and I have read answers to questions dated in the 80’s. So to have the oportunity to answer them with wit at the start of his column which was in the 73’, a moment when there was no internet he must have been at least 25. So 2013-1973= 40. 40+25= 65 That’s my guess. What do you guys out there think? I have always wondered this question because I read once on an article in Cracked.com criticizing tv characters that know lots of stuff of being unrealistic, like Temperance Brennan because she knew like 5 languages, have written books, was a Phd in forensics or something like that by her early thirties.
How old you must be to gather enough knowledge to be the master of the teeming millions?
This has never been clearly established. It seems obvious, but then there is no explanation for the denials from people that know both of them, or at least one of them, that Ed Zotti is Cecil. As for your implication that there have been other Cecils in the past, I think this is probably true. One of our ancient ancestors must have been named Cecil and answered the inquiries of his kind, such as “What better, rock or pointy stick?”
The first Cecil Adams was Mike Lenehan. He grew up in Fair Lawn, New Jersey and graduated from Notre Dame. He was born about 1949. The second Cecil Adams was Dave Kehr. The Wikipedia article about him isn’t consistent. It says that he was born both in 1950 and 1953:
Checking more reliable sources, it appears the 1953 date is closer to the truth. (If you don’t already know how someone can find this out in seconds, you don’t want to know. You’ll sleep better at night.)
There’s a common misconception here (“to master that much knowledge”). Cecil isn’t some sort of Mr Memory with a huge brain encompassing much of the knowledge of the planet. No, Cecil’s genius lies in the fact that he knows where to get the answers to any question asked. His librarian’s training must stand him in good stead here.
Given that Dave Kehr currently works for The New York Times (and used to live in Chicago), this is probably the Dave Kehr we’re looking for, and it says that he was born in 1953:
Much like the mysterious person who toasts the Birthh of Poe in Baltimore every year, Cecil has his own [del]stalker[/del] admirer and booster. Whitetho, every year on the Anniversary of Cecil’s birth, starts a thread on the SDMB.
