I mean, I’ve been floating around the message boards (lurking) for almost two years. I’ve been posting regularly since July. And no one I talk to has ever even seen him (at least doesn’t admit to it).
Even the mods / SDSAB don’t admit to it. So is there really a Cecil? Or is this the great secret of the SDMB, this is what lets you in the clique, when you figure out that there isn’t one.
I always hated being left out! So tell me. Or forward your opinions on Cecil, what he actually looks like, who he is.
There have been, I recall, four editors who have written with that title.
There was a thread around here that showed the registration for the trademark as a fictitious name. Somebody else can look it up.
He is all around us; in the trees, and the bubbling brooks, and among the stars in the sky, and hiding in the Merkin aisle in the Adult Bookstore, taking notes!
And like Santa Claus, and Father Time, and Honest Politicians, Cecil Adams shall always be with us!
There’s a pretty good assemblage of evidence to indicate that “Cecil Adams” is the pen name of the individual who writes the columns, used to protect his secret identity from public scrutiny – just as “Polycarp” is not my actual name as shown on my birth certificate and driver’s license.
Extended speculation has existed as to the actual “real” identity of “Cecil Adams” with the majority view being that it is Ed Zotti, which Ed has refused to confirm and has done some wonderful sidestepping to imply without stating outright that it is not. So form your own opinions.
Zotti’s Letter to the Chicagoans: Verse 5
The fool says in his heart, “There is no Cecil.” They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good.
Hmmm…So much for my plan of dressing like the UPS guy, and showing up at the Reader’s offices with an important package that must be signed for by one C. Adams.
So I’ve been thinking about this for the last hour or so, and I think: this is really disappointing.
I grew up very cough gullible cough and have spent years training myself to be skeptical about nearly everything. I check sources. I ask questions. Occasionally I am fooled still but not for long.
Did no one else really believe there WAS a Cecil? I am so embarrased. Maybe I should go and join the “Intellectually Inferior” Doper crowd.
I feel like someone just told me there is no Santa Claus.
“Cecil Adams” was a registered trademark (abandoned 1989). You see the record by searching the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database. Yes, it does state “CECIL ADAMS DOES NOT IDENTIFY ANY PARTICULAR INDIVIDUAL BUT WAS DEVISED AS A FANCIFUL NAME”. But the registrations for “Miss Manners”, “Dear Abby”, and “Ann Landers” all have similar wording.
While I don’t claim to have any knowledge as to whether there has been one “Cecil Adams” or many, the trademark registration doesn’t provide any evidence one way or the other.
