# So....is Cecil Adams really Ed Zotti? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061 "2009-03-19T19:33:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/41 "2009-03-20T15:29:17Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I’ve been to a couple of modmeetings in or around Chicago. I’ve been introduced to a guy who was called (and answered to) Ed Zotti. I didn’t pinch him, but he IS a real person. I’ve also met various other mods at the same time. If somebody’s going to pinch him next time, I call “not it.” Hologram or not, Ed’s name is probably not a pseudonym. ---
**Author:** ![ClintPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@ClintPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/42 "2009-03-20T15:46:31Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > The “Cecil Adams is a real person, and not Ed Zotti” meme might have been amusing might have been amusing back in the mid 80s when the first book came out. Even in 1998 (99?), when the board first moved here from AOL, and was young and carefree. > > Now it’s just tired and lame. (IMHO) Geez, tell me how you really feel. If only things that were truly original could be funny, we’d all be in a lot of trouble. I apologize for not being around the site in 1999 when it was actually funny. Back to the OP, why does it matter? Ed will never admit it, even in the face of absolutely unequivocal proof (if such existed). So trying to find such proof is irrelevant when there is enough evidence to determine on a balance of probabilities that it probably is him. Does Ed being Cecil make the column or the site less interesting? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/43 "2009-03-20T16:11:02Z")
> [@ClintPhoenix](#): > > Does Ed being Cecil make the column or the site less interesting? Not to most people, I imagine. But there appear to be some people who have this reverence for the “Perfect Master” Cecil that would be diminished if it were found out that he is the same as Ed Zotti, whose interactions with the Great Unwashed Masses in running this MB have showed him to a mere mortal like anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/44 "2009-03-20T17:29:58Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > “Cecil Adams” isn’t quite a pen name. As you can see if you scroll down to the fine print: “The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams” is a registered trademark of Creative Loafing Media, Inc. That means even though Ed has written the column for 30 years he doesn’t own the name, Creative Loafing does. “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” is owned by Comedy Central. I’m pretty sure Jon owns his own name, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/45 "2009-03-20T17:57:22Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > And while we’re at it, do you pronounce it See-sill or Seh-sill? If he doesn’t stir himself to respond in this thread, I vote we pronounce it “[sessile](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sessile).” ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/46 "2009-03-20T18:03:26Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#): > > Where’s everyone’s sense of child-like wonder?! > > The fight against ignorance be damned, I choose to believe Cecil is a real individual who certainly _isn’t_ Ed. A world without Unca’ Cecil is like a world without Santa Claus: a world none of us should want to live in. Where’s your sense of fighting ignorance? Child-like wonder be damned, this is the General Questions forum of the Straight Dope, the one place in all the universe where nothing other than the complete, objective truth should be tolerated. You can choose to believe whatever you want, but here in GQ is simply an inappropriate place to profess a belief, no matter what the topic. _No matter what the topic_, even when it comes to the “sainted” Cecil Adams. Personally, I don’t like living in a world where an institution like the Straight Dope, holding itself up as the bastion of truth, engages in blatant hypocrisy when it comes to its own author. ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/47 "2009-03-20T18:14:39Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > I don’t see how that precludes it being a collaborative pen name for others who don’t get attributed thus. > [@Colibri](#): > > I can confirm that, as someone who has provided information for Cecil’s columns, any significant information I have contributed to them has always been attributed to me by name. “Mailbag” columns I write as SDSAB are also attributed to me by name. To the best of my knowledge, that’s true for other Staff members as well. Once again, this is GQ. Please explain how your statement invalidates Gary T’s. Ok, so when you contribute information for Cecil’s columns, it’s attributed to you. Keyword in that sentence is “contribute”. That is not inconsistent with the possibility that the actual authorship of the column, say, rotates. Let’s say that this week’s column will be the responsibility of Lynn. Lynn is the “acting Cecil”, responsible for the writing of the actual column, this week. So any information that Colibri provides will be attributed to Colibri. But next week Colibri is the “acting Cecil”. And any information that Lynn provides will be attributed to Lynn. The week after, Una is the “acting Cecil”, and both Lynn and Colibri provide information and are properly attributed. Nothing in what you say precludes that scenario. ---
**Author:** ![FlippyFly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FlippyFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlippyFly)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/48 "2009-03-20T18:17:59Z")
Who gets paid when you buy the straight dope books? ---
**Author:** ![acetylene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@acetylene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acetylene)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/49 "2009-03-20T19:11:47Z")
So what are we to make of [this radio interivew](http://www.talkradioone.com/2009/03/16/next-marc-germain-live-monday-8pm-pdt11pm-edt-2/)from last Monday? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/50 "2009-03-20T19:18:09Z")
If writing of the Cecil columns was in rotation, then why wouldn’t they have just scheduled the [Turtle Butt](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2325/is-it-true-turtles-breathe-through-their-butts) column so it fell during **Colibri** ’s week in the barrel? He wrote almost the entire thing as it is (note: George Angehr = **Colibri** ). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/51 "2009-03-20T19:27:53Z")
> [@Roadfood](#): > > But next week Colibri is the “acting Cecil”. And any information that Lynn provides will be attributed to Lynn. No. On the basis of what I said, if I wrote the column, that column as a whole would have been attributed to me by name, even if details contributed by Lynn were attributed to her within the column. To state more explicitly, anything I have personally written that has appeared in any column by Cecil has been explicitly attributed to me by name, not credited to Cecil. Any substantial information provided by me that was paraphrased in the columns has also been attributed to me. There may have been a couple of minor facts that were not, but obviously Cecil can’t attribute every single item that appears in a column or it would be unreadable. Also, he stole a joke from me once.🙂 The columns are not written by SDSAB members, alone or as a collaboration. (Or, if they are, they haven’t let me in on it. Probably hogging all those royalties. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/52 "2009-03-20T19:32:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If writing of the Cecil columns was in rotation, then why wouldn’t they have just scheduled the [Turtle Butt](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2325/is-it-true-turtles-breathe-through-their-butts) column so it fell during **Colibri** ’s week in the barrel? He wrote almost the entire thing as it is (note: George Angehr = **Colibri** ). Other examples are [How do caterpillars have sex?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2370/how-do-caterpillars-have-sex) and [Do crocodiles shed tears? (revisited)](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2390/do-crocodiles-shed-tears-revisited) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/53 "2009-03-20T19:39:46Z")
I’d just like to point out a line of inquiry we may all be missing: what if Cecil’s a woman? > **[Whitepages](https://www.whitepages.com/person?city_zip=chicago&extra_listing=mixed&firstname=cecil&firstname_begins_with=1&form_mode=opt_b&localtime=survey&name=adams&post_back=1&state_id=IL&street=)** > > The Official Whitepages ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/54 "2009-03-20T19:45:54Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > GASP, I was lied to. Waaaaaaaaaaaaay back on AOL, there’s was a question as to if Cecil was a real person or not. I sent off an email to…someone, don’t know who, and IIRC, the answer was “He better be real, he’s my boss” The evidence is that there is only one person called Cecil Adams, at any time. Therefore, Cecil Adams is a real person. That his real name isn’t Cecil Adams, but (currently, probably) Ed Zotti, doesn’t make him a fiction, just someone who writes under a pseudonym. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/55 "2009-03-20T20:05:41Z")
Well, Adams had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to his office and he told me his secret. ‘I am not Cecil Adams’, he said. ‘My name is Zotti; I inherited the column from the previous Cecil Adams, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Cecil Adams either. His name was Kehr. The real Adams has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.’ ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/56 "2009-03-20T20:26:54Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > Well, Adams had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to his office and he told me his secret. ‘I am not Cecil Adams’, he said. ‘My name is Zotti; I inherited the column from the previous Cecil Adams, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Cecil Adams either. His name was Kehr. The real Adams has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.’ Kind of the Dread Pirate Cecil? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/57 "2009-03-20T20:57:57Z")
I once worked for a newspaper where we had a columnist that nobody ever saw. I’ll call lhim Elmer. Every week, he’d produce something. We all knew there was nobody in the newsroom by that name. We also knew who edited all the columns. I’ll call him Mike. (All the columns, not just Elmer’s.) At one point I had an idea for a column that sounded a lot like something Elmer would write. I wrote it up and submitted it to Mike. A couple of weeks later, my column appeared, with a few changes to make it sound more Elmer-like, in Elmer’s space. Mike told me I’d done a very good job of capturing Elmer’s voice. There was a lot of competition in the newsroom to write Elmer’s column every week. Mike never told anyone who was Elmer for the week, and–while he didn’t swear everyone to secrecy–it was just a known thing that you didn’t come right out and say, “Hey! I’m Elmer this week!” Mike edited for style, but sometimes other little clues seeped through. When the newspaper died, Elmer was never heard from again. This is probably not how it is with Cecil Adams at all. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/58 "2009-03-20T21:46:39Z")
> [@Roadfood](#): > > Once again, this is GQ. Please explain how your statement invalidates Gary T’s. > > Ok, so when you contribute information for Cecil’s columns, it’s attributed to you. Keyword in that sentence is “contribute”. That is not inconsistent with the possibility that the actual authorship of the column, say, rotates. > > Let’s say that this week’s column will be the responsibility of Lynn. Lynn is the “acting Cecil”, responsible for the writing of the actual column, this week. So any information that Colibri provides will be attributed to Colibri. > > But next week Colibri is the “acting Cecil”. And any information that Lynn provides will be attributed to Lynn. > > The week after, Una is the “acting Cecil”, and both Lynn and Colibri provide information and are properly attributed. > > Nothing in what you say precludes that scenario. To the best of my knowledge, this is NOT how it goes. I’m not very active in the column writing division, but I’ve written a few (I think it’s three or four). If I write a column, it will always, ALWAYS be attributed to me. If Ed is thinking of doing a column, but wants some research done by somebody, ANYBODY, else, he’ll ask some or all of us about the subject. And he’ll always attribute the contributions. As far as I know, there have never been rotating Cecil shifts. Someone will be Cecil for a while, but it’s a period of years, not weeks. Remember, Cecil will put out one column a week. This might have one or two subjects in it. The other columns are either SD classics, Staff Reports, or SD Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Roadfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc348/32.png) [@Roadfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadfood)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/59 "2009-03-20T22:28:59Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > As far as I know, there have never been rotating Cecil shifts. Someone will be Cecil for a while, but it’s a period of years, not weeks. Is this what it appears to be, an acknowledgment that you have first-hand knowledge that there have been different people writing under the name “Cecil Adams” over the years? ---
**Author:** ![ClintPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@ClintPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061/60 "2009-03-20T22:37:21Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > If Ed is thinking of doing a column, but wants some research done by somebody, ANYBODY, else, he’ll ask some or all of us about the subject. And he’ll always attribute the contributions. …and that this is an admission that it’s Ed who writes the columns currently? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-cecil-adams-really-ed-zotti/490061.md?page=4)