# When Cecil Adams is wrong

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [October 11, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302 "2021-10-11T13:51:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302/1 "2021-10-11T13:51:29Z")

</div>

Did Cecil Adams ever offer a mea culpa for any article?

A recent topic on this subject was whisked away to the cornfields. I have saved some of the (non-offending) replies. 🙂

> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> Not Cecil but his editor, **Ed Zotti** did make mistakes. Ed has talked about it before. It was the Monty Hall question.

> [@Max\_S](#):
>
> Here’s a link to the Monty Hall problem, arguably the closest Cecil ever came to admitting he was wrong.
> 
> [The Straight Dope – 2 Nov 90](https://www.straightdope.com/21342062/on-let-s-make-a-deal-you-pick-door-1-monty-opens-door-2-no-prize-do-you-stay-with-door-1-or-switch-t)

> [@panache45](#):
>
> Cecil was wrong about hot dogs and ketchup.

> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> Bah!!  
> [@Cecil\_Adams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cecil_adams) was perfect.
> 
> My fingers are inserted in my ears. And I’m reciting the ABCs. Loudly.
> 
> 🤭

> [@Princhester](#):
>
> And about beer and ice water

> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> > [@Princhester](#):
> >
> > Cecil was wrong about hot dogs and ketchup.
> 
> I too thought he soft-pedaled how bad the combo was.

> [@whitetho](#):
>
> In 2001, Unca Cece had to run an extensive correction about radio call sign practices:
> 
> [Why do U.S. radio call letters start with W in the east and K in the west (revisited)? - The Straight Dope](https://www.straightdope.com/21343450/why-do-u-s-radio-call-letters-start-with-w-in-the-east-and-k-in-the-west-revisited)

> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#):
>
> Cecil subscribed to the ‘Glass is a liquid’ line. And he was convinced by some pretty flimsy evidence that the [candiru catfish can indeed swim into the urethra.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru_(fish))

> [@China\_Guy](#):
>
> Here’s a good example of Cecil getting in the last word: [Is the world’s tallest building in North Korea? - The Straight Dope](https://www.straightdope.com/21343475/is-the-world-s-tallest-building-in-north-korea)

> [@Mr\_Downtown](#):
>
> A minor detail of local geography, but [here’s a pretty clear reversal.](http://web.archive.org/web/20160604135819/http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20091008.php)

~Max

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2021, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302/2 "2021-10-11T14:40:31Z")

</div>

See, @Cecil_Adams disappeared that ‘trollish person’, forthwith.

@Max_S watch your ‘Ps’ and ‘Qs’…I kinda like having you around.  
🤫

I hear nuthin’ 🙉

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2021, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302/3 "2021-10-12T00:26:52Z")

</div>

“Explaining this enormous discrepancy requires a force considerably greater than the curvature of the earth. Stupidity has got to be it.”  
— Cecil  
heh

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302/4 "2021-10-12T02:24:10Z")

</div>

Okay, what’s the point? Yes, there have been errors and subsequent corrections in Straight Dope columns. The author, Ed Zotti for most of its run (writing under the Cecil Adams monicker) did a pretty good job but nobody is infallible. Does this surprise anyone? Let’s give him the credit he deserves and try to refrain from harping on occasional slip-ups.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2021, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302/5 "2021-10-12T02:51:21Z")

</div>

> [@Hatchie](#):
>
> The author, Ed Zotti for most of its run (writing under the Cecil Adams monicker) did a pretty good job but nobody is infallible.

😲  
I’m reminded of a [recent article](https://www.economist.com/1843/2021/10/06/the-curious-incident-of-sherlock-holmess-real-life-secretary) (paywalled) in the Economist’s 1843 Magazine about Sherlock Holmes’ real-life secretary :

> Holmes obsessives brook no doubt about the corporeality of their hero. When a guest at a meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars, the most prominent of the super-sleuth’s fan clubs in America, referred to Conan Doyle as Holmes’s creator, a member reportedly grew outraged: “Holmes is a man!” he cried. “Holmes is a great man!”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2021, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302/6 "2021-10-12T03:17:57Z")

</div>

I’m sure an interesting thread could be started about fictitious people, or real people who write or perform under assumed names, who prefer to stay anonymous for sundry reasons. It gets funnier when their fans refuse to acknowledge what everyone eventually figures out (since it becomes harder to maintain a fiction as you become more popular and people are naturally nosy).

Regular pseudonyms aren’t a problem; I don’t think Mark Twain or Saki ever denied who they were off the book jackets. But it’s weird to keep telling everyone “no, I’m not Jandek” when you obviously are; weirder when your followers keep insisting “no one really knows who Jandek is, all that stuff about Sterling Smith being Jandek is speculation.”

(As for Sherlock Holmes, that’s just a bit of fun, right? Like Santa Claus.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302/7 "2021-10-14T22:56:58Z")

</div>

Getting back to the OP…it took about three or four runs at it, but Cecil (or Ed) finally conceded that [“the Exception That Proves the Rule”](https://www.straightdope.com/21341901/what-s-the-meaning-of-the-expression-that-s-the-exception-that-proves-the-rule) _is_ valid in certain circumstances.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [October 23, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302/8 "2021-10-23T19:49:54Z")

</div>

But that’s the thing. It is a bit of fun here, too. The conceit of the column is that Cecil Adams is a real person, and we play along, just like the conceit of Holmsian societies are that Holmes was real and so people play along.

It’s not weird that the guy who would agree to write under these conditions would go along with the conceit of the column. He most likely made a promise to never reveal it. It’s genuinely possible that some other “editors” stepped in at times, and they also keep the promise. It’s no different to how wrestlers don’t break “kayfabe”—we all know all the drama and fights I wrestling are fake, but you don’t admit that. You don’t let it be known that rivals are actually friends and so on.

Unless someone is genuinely confused (and Max does not seem to have been), I don’t see any pressing need to spoil the fun. It honestly seems disrespectful to do so, given that Cecil’s column is why this board ever existed in the first place. It’s part of the culture of the board, like several other things. Many of the old timers bonded over this tradition, and it seems a shame to get rid of it.

And I hold the same for the other pseudonomous column writers. It’s not like _The Straight Dope_ was the only column with this conceit.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2021, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302/9 "2021-10-24T01:43:48Z")

</div>

Well said.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-cecil-adams-is-wrong/952302/10 "2022-03-15T18:31:17Z")

</div>

> [@whitetho](#):
>
> In 2001, Unca Cece had to run an extensive correction about radio call sign practices:
> 
> [Why do U.S. radio call letters start with W in the east and K in the west (revisited)? - The Straight Dope](https://www.straightdope.com/21343450/why-do-u-s-radio-call-letters-start-with-w-in-the-east-and-k-in-the-west-revisited)

And it seems that this correction was issued in response to potentially the first ever “Comment on Cecil’s Column” posted to this message board, here:

> [@Cecil's Lousy Call Letter Answer (repost)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecils-lousy-call-letter-answer-repost/11/5):
>
> “With all deliberate speed”, Unca Cece’s promised update – brilliant as usual – finally appears in this week’s column, [Why do U.S. radio call letters start with W in the east and K in the west (revisited)?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010504.html) I happily withdraw my earlier posted tirade. Cecil took approximately 780 days to produce this “reply in full soon” – i.e. 336 days longer than the Iranian hostage crisis (although 120 fewer than the siege of Leningrad). In contrast, he needed but 31 days to get Lee’s [brassière-sizing](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=27201) update …

~Max