# Where are you Cecil Adams? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 8, 2000, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961 "2000-07-08T17:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tshirts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@tshirts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tshirts)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2000, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/1 "2000-07-08T17:23:10Z")
It’s been two months now since you’ve appeared “live”, rather than just in your columns (which could be written long in advance, after all). Do you live alone? Will they find you slumped over in your easy chair, TV blaring on the Just Sharks cable channel? ---
**Author:** ![fnord1966](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ad7895/32.png) [@fnord1966](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fnord1966)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/2 "2000-07-08T17:33:17Z")
Ask Ed Zotti. (he knows EVERYTHING about Cecil) ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/3 "2000-07-08T18:17:13Z")
Maybe he’s in MPSIMS. You should check. Here, I’ll help you over there. ---
**Author:** ![tshirts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@tshirts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tshirts)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/4 "2000-07-09T00:19:12Z")
Oh, sure, like he _ever_ comes here. OK, 4% of the time, but still bad odds. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/5 "2000-07-09T05:32:03Z")
Yeah, where the hell is he? I never got personally welcomed! God, you’d think he was imaginary or something! tshirts, that “welcome” didn’t involve a rubber inner tube and a whole stick of butter, did it? ---
**Author:** ![Wanderlust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc29f/32.png) [@Wanderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wanderlust)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/6 "2000-07-09T16:14:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dropzone \* > \*\*Yeah, where the hell is he? I never got personally welcomed! God, you’d think he was imaginary or something! > \*\* He IS imaginary. Ed Zotti answers all his mail. And I think that’s a newspaper-contructed nom de plume, too, like Dear Abbey, that they can switch to another writer at any time when the contract runs out. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/7 "2000-07-09T18:30:47Z")
NOOOOO hides from **Wanderlust** Your ruining our illusions! ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/8 "2000-07-09T18:50:18Z")
Of COURSE Cecil is real! What would ever make you think different? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/9 "2000-07-09T19:08:06Z")
It’s just that he’s been very busy lately. He’s out there somewhere (Nebraska?) searching high and low for the etymology of the term “Street El”. The **only** thing that the worlds smartest human doesn’t know. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/10 "2000-07-09T20:25:27Z")
I like to occasionally point out that Unca Cece never fully responded, like he said he would, to the numerous errors I pointed out in [Cecil’s Lousy Call Letter Answer](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=2). I’d like to think that he’s currently somewhere in Europe, researching the files of the International Telecommunications Union, in order to put together his promised reply. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/11 "2000-07-09T20:50:31Z")
Can I point something out? Has anyone thought that he may already _be_ here? I mean, the guy is probably undercover, using a user name to quietly lurk and/or post. Y’all say you want him to go public, but I have a sneaky suspicion he is 007 right now . . . ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/12 "2000-07-09T20:52:45Z")
Whoops, didn’t read the whole thread . . . Whoever/whatever is writing under the name “Cecil Adams” is probably already here. Infiltration of the forward lines to gather intel, I bethca . . . ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/13 "2000-07-09T21:20:57Z")
He probably has legions of sockpuppets to post under without us knowing. (Is “legions” spelled right? It doesn’t look right.) ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/14 "2000-07-09T23:21:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gunslinger \* > \*\*He probably has legions of sockpuppets to post under without us knowing. (Is “legions” spelled right? It doesn’t look right.) \*\* I fell off a bike once. Got legions in my elbows and knees. I’m ok now. 🙂 Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Fanny\_May](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3be4f8/32.png) [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/15 "2000-07-09T23:51:59Z")
I worry about that happening to myself. Especially when Leno has an all-football-player show. My heart rate goes to 5/min. ---
**Author:** ![winky99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/71c47a/32.png) [@winky99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/winky99)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2000, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/16 "2000-07-10T00:19:15Z")
Cecils last post: > [@](#): > > [Greetings to Jezebel, on her birthday](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=449515#post449515) - 70 replies Cecil Adams 05-10-2000 MPSIMS It’s quite colorful. ---
**Author:** ![VaHermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ed655f/32.png) [@VaHermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VaHermit)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2000, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/17 "2000-07-10T00:47:33Z")
ssshhhhh. don’t cry, children. Keep close to me and be very, very quiet. The thing they’ve drawn on the ground? Thats a pentagram…never mind why! They’re jumping around like that because it’s an ancient cleansing ritual and the name they call, Cecil?..better that you forget you ever heard it. Oh, foolish people, why must you tempt the fates? ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2000, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/18 "2000-07-10T02:14:51Z")
Cecil Adams: > [@](#): > > Oh, and just to end the suspense, here’s a big yo to Hoo-ha, or whatever his name is. And it took me weeks of trying just to get that out of him. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2000, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/19 "2000-07-10T03:39:08Z")
Speaking of Ed Zotti, and the answer to this is probably in Vol I of the Canon but I’m too dead-assed to look it up, does anybody remember who was Cecil’s mouthpiece before Ed? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961/20 "2000-07-10T04:22:07Z")
From Cecil Adams’ Book “[_The Straight Dope_](http://www.straightdope.com/otheroutlets/books.html)”, p. ix (Introduction by Ed Zotti) > [@](#): > > I first became acquainted with Cecil Adams, self-proclaimed omniscient, in the fall of 1978, when I was asked to become his editor. The previous occupant of the post, the noted film critic Dave Kehr, had been driven to the brink of madness by Cecil’s obnoxious personality, and desperately wanted out. … > Cecil’s editor in the early years was Mike Lenehan, who has since gone on to glory as a contributor to the _Atlantic_ magazine. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-cecil-adams/24961.md?page=2)