# Who is Earl?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-earl/163934>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [March 25, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-earl/163934 "2003-03-25T02:32:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-earl/163934/1 "2003-03-25T02:32:41Z")

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I never thought about it until a friend I had told about the Straight Dope website asked me and I had no idea:

Who is Earl? Why is he weird? And what great deed did he do to earn a spot on the front page of the Straight Dope website? Slay a mighty dragon? Spike Marilyn Von Savant’s coffee with Ex Lax?

I need to know. We ALL need to know.

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-earl/163934/2 "2003-03-25T02:48:25Z")

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Here’s a WAG: “Earl” is really “URL”, as in the web site addresses used.

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**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-earl/163934/3 "2003-03-25T02:57:21Z")

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So “Weird Earl’s” is actually “Weird URLs”.

Now, what I wanna know is why there’s suddenly a whole bunch of Dopers named Earl (something). I saw at least three today.

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**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-earl/163934/4 "2003-03-25T21:45:27Z")

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I never caught the Earl/url connection. Your WAG makes a heck of a lot of sense, thanks **IceWolf**.

Anyone in the know going to answer my question?

Anyone???

Don’t make me start calling on you!

::searching frantically for the seating chart::

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**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-earl/163934/5 "2003-03-25T22:53:04Z")

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**Ice Wolf** ’s WAG is spot on.

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**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2003, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-earl/163934/6 "2003-03-26T15:04:41Z")

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Thanks, **CK Dexter Haven**. I will be able to sleep better tonight.