# When has Cecil been flat-out wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 18, 2015, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655 "2015-09-18T10:47:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/1 "2015-09-18T10:47:03Z")
[/“all hail the perfect master” schtik] In the long time since “Cecil” has been writing articles, he must have made thousands of factual statements. I imagine quite a few of them have subsequently been shown to be wrong, (not obsolete or just an opinion you don’t share, but factually provably wrong.) Does anybody have any examples? (Mods: I request this does not get moved to CoCC, but any other forum is fair game if you think it belongs somewhere else.) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/2 "2015-09-18T11:20:50Z")
Do you include Cecil columns written by SDStaffers? If so, I’ll mention that [Cecil’s column about the Ark of the Covenant](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1401/what-happened-to-the-ark-of-the-covenant) totally misrepresents Graham Hancock’s hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/3 "2015-09-18T13:23:28Z")
When he told me that [glass is a liquid](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/110/how-come-you-can-see-through-glass) :mad: I actually based a thread in 1999 on that premise and was corrected, before Cecil added the correction to the linked column. Cecil even posted in my thread so I guess it wasn’t all bad. Sadly, that thread seems to have gotten lost over time. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/4 "2015-09-18T13:52:42Z")
When he thought fighting ignorance wouldn’t take too long. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/5 "2015-09-18T13:54:26Z")
He was flat out wrong, back in 1982 when He and I were partying out on the Lake, and he suggested that I take the brunette and he take the blonde. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/6 "2015-09-18T14:17:05Z")
Apparently, Cecil whiffed on the whole Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings thing even though I still believe HIM over THEM. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/7 "2015-09-18T14:21:43Z")
In his effort to thwart his nemesis, Marylin vos Savant, Cecil was famously right, then dead wrong, then right again on the Monty Hall question. [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/916/on-lets-make-a-deal-you-pick-door-1-monty-opens-door-2-no-prize-do-you-stay-with-door-1-or-switch-to-3](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/916/on-lets-make-a-deal-you-pick-door-1-monty-opens-door-2-no-prize-do-you-stay-with-door-1-or-switch-to-3) ---
**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:** [September 18, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/8 "2015-09-18T14:38:12Z")
Cecil [admitted he was wrong](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2348/what-are-the-five-ways-to-get-to-first-base-without-hitting-the-ball-revisited) in his [original answer](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/265/what-are-5-ways-to-get-to-1st-without-hitting-the-ball) for the five ways to get to first base without hitting the ball. ---
**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 18, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/9 "2015-09-18T15:01:36Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > In the long time since “Cecil” has been writing articles, he must have made thousands of factual statements. I imagine quite a few of them have subsequently been shown to be wrong, (not obsolete or just an opinion you don’t share, but factually provably wrong.) Does anybody have any examples? Cecil was wrong when he thought he had made a mistake, but he hadn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/10 "2015-09-18T16:26:39Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Apparently, Cecil whiffed on the whole Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings thing even though I still believe HIM over THEM. The evidence still points to Jefferson’s nephews more than him. Definitely a family linkage, but not to TJ himself. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/11 "2015-09-18T17:09:30Z")
Cecil has never been wrong. It is reality that has occasionally failed to adequately represent Cecil’s truth. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/12 "2015-09-18T18:14:56Z")
The [mole people](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2488/are-there-really-mole-people-living-under-the-streets-of-new-york-city) column was pretty embarrassing. Cecil basically repeated a bunch of crap from a single widely-discredited book. ---
**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 18, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/13 "2015-09-18T19:27:18Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Cecil has never been wrong. It is reality that has occasionally failed to adequately represent Cecil’s truth. You suck up better than I, which is quite an accomplishment. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-has-cecil-been-flat-out-wrong/731655/14 "2015-09-19T01:14:48Z")
The ultimate example is when member **whitetho** called Cecil out just days after the Board changed from AOL to this one. Easily the first mistake. Originating the response > [@](#): > > C’mere, Little Ed. We need to talk. [Cecil’s Lousy Call Letter Answer](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=2&highlight=radio)