# Who IS he?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [December 29, 1999, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147 "1999-12-29T03:34:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Juniorbunk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniorbunk777)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/1 "1999-12-29T03:34:00Z")
I’m a first time poster and a new BBSer, so, what with my SDMB virginity about to go the way of New Coke and paper dresses, please be gentle.
I own all of the SD books, and I’ve always been fascinated more with the identity of Cecil Adams than I’ve ever been with the questions he answers (although the method in which porcupines get in on does have its charms). I’m (and this was a recent epiphany of realization) of the impression that Cecil Adams doesn’t exist, per se, but that he is a pseudonym used to describe an array of SD data collectors. Did anyone else notice the glaringly different writing style found when comparing the first two books to the final two? It’s like apples and oranges. I was actually a bit dissapointed with the aforementioned penultimate and ultimate additions to the SD collectoin. It just doesn’t sound like “him.”
Of course, I’ve read of those who now believe Homer was actually a woman because of the insight into the female mindset found within the pages of his greatest works. I scoff at these people…loud and heavy scoffs that eject phlegm from my nostrils like so much cannon-shot. Maybe I’m just “reading into things.”
Or maybe I’m just an “idiot.”
* * *
“The Good deserve a higher plane of existence than this life can offer, The Bad an even higher.”
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### Author:  [@Ursa\_Major](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ursa_Major)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/2 "1999-12-29T04:13:00Z")
The unvarnished answer, Jr., is that most people think Cecil and his editor, Ed Zotti are the same person. Most fans, though, will publicly aver otherwise. It’s part of being a loyal Doper. I’ve read all the books and I’m confident all the columns are the work of a single person. Cecil’s been doing the thing he does for 25 years and there’s bound to be some evolution in his style over the years. I don’t see any signs that the columns are written by a committee.
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### Author:  [@Juniorbunk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniorbunk777)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/3 "1999-12-29T07:50:00Z")
Since I posted this thread, about 20 other new ones were posted, and about 500 people responded to those. All I got was stinking you, Ursa.
I’m the most uninteresting poster ever.
I’d heard the Zotti/Adams theory before, and it sounds good to me. I believe Zotti once penned a sort of SD for kids, adressing such basic questions as “Why is the sky blue?” “Why does my stomach hurt?” and “What’s Vietnam, daddy?” Stuff like that…so I suppose he could write one for grown-ups, too. Or five.
I still insist, however, that there exists no “Cecil Adams.” Nobody could stay hidden for that long, what with today’s modern gizmos and gadgets and such and such, etc.
* * *
“The Good deserve a higher plane of existence than this life can offer, The Bad an even higher.”
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### Author:  [@mikan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikan)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/4 "1999-12-29T09:29:00Z")
Juniorbunk, I think the reason your thread hasn’t generated many responses is that the topic has already been “done” here (at least once that I know of, annd I don’t check in that often). You could always try the [ahem] search engine.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/5 "1999-12-29T12:17:00Z")
Virginia, There will always be a Cecil Adams leading our website. Certainly like Coca Cola, there have been attempts to imitate him but always unsuccessfully. Cecil will always live in our hearts.
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### Author:  [@Phaedrus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phaedrus)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/6 "1999-12-29T15:28:00Z")
I know some people on this board don’t like Homer but I never heard anyone think he was a woman although I have heard others think he was another poster. Curious.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/7 "1999-12-29T16:22:00Z")
Homer a woman? How does Marge feel about that? Where did Bart and the girls come from? Adoption?
It raises far too manny unanswerable questions for further consideration.
D’oh!
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### Author:  [@Juniorbunk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniorbunk777)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/8 "1999-12-29T17:13:00Z")
Mikan…I was simply being, um…“self-depreciating.”
* * *
“The Good deserve a higher plane of existence than this life can offer, The Bad an even higher.”
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### Author:  [@Juniorbunk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniorbunk777)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/9 "1999-12-29T17:18:00Z")
And, oh yeah…Dr. Fidelius…you aren’t the only part-time cryptozoologist wandering these desolate access roads to the Information Superhighway. I actually tried to email you about our shared interest, but, after carefully crafting an invitation for further discussion, the computer I was on…what’s the technical term??? It went tits up.
Come to think of it, Homer DID mention that he wore women’s underwear, but that it was, “as we’ve discussed, strictly a comfort thing.”
* * *
“The Good deserve a higher plane of existence than this life can offer, The Bad an even higher.”
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [December 30, 1999, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/10 "1999-12-30T06:19:00Z")
It’s a theological proposition, Jr. Cecil exists; it’s merely questions about his nature and interrelationships with the reality external to him that bring about disputes. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [December 30, 1999, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/11 "1999-12-30T06:20:00Z")
Junior, your first post was well-written, quickly highjacked and detoured, and you played the bounce perfectly.
You’re gonna fit right in.
* * *
“Sharpen your cutlasses. There may be skullduggery ahead.” The Penguin
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/12 "1999-12-29T19:05:00Z")
… but don’t ever say “Information Superhighway” again. I _hate_ that Al Gore-ism. Bleah. I have to go scrub the uncleanliness off my body now.
* * *
The truth, as always, is more complicated than that.
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### Author:  [@Juniorbunk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniorbunk777)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/13 "1999-12-29T21:06:00Z")
Rystand…you’ve made me friggin’ month with your compliment.
Now I’m just going to put my feet up and surf the Information Superhighway. Oh, yeah, baby…I’m cruisin’ along the Highway…the INFORMATION SUPERhighway, that is to say.
Gore for 2OOO!
Just kidding.
By the way, it would have been dorky of me to post this thread in General Questions or something, but I selected Great Debates because, by definition, a Great Debate is one that has (probably) been beaten into the ground, anyway. It’s slightly less dorky this way.
* * *
“The Good deserve a higher plane of existence than this life can offer, The Bad an even higher.”
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### Author:  [@JBENZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBENZ)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/14 "1999-12-29T21:54:00Z")
Whilst our token Theist pontificates thusly:
> [@](#):
>
> It’s a theological proposition, Jr. Cecil exists; it’s merely questions about his nature and interrelationships with the reality external to him that bring about disputes.
## those of a more secular bent (or otherwise bent, to accomodate the general membership)would say that if Cecil did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. The Adams [1]Canon[/1]provides a dependable source of certainty and order in an otherwise incomprehensible, hostile and suspiciously Republican universe. It is fruitless to debate how many columnists can write on the head of a pin.
JB
Someday you’ll get sick of truffles and imported beers,
While you’re swingin’ from your crystal chandeliers.
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### Author:  [@JBENZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBENZ)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/15 "1999-12-29T21:55:00Z")
(slap) It’s i stupid, not 1!
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/16 "1999-12-29T23:04:00Z")
At least your token Theist can _italicize_ correctly! 😉
Jr. – I second what Rysdad said. Nice pitch, nice return, even when your thread was headed for Havana.
BTW, have we established whether James Joyce was wearing women’s underwear when he wrote _Ulysses_ under the pen name of Homer yet? 😉
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/17 "1999-12-29T23:15:00Z")
James Joyce was the pen name for a woman-- Joyce James, the daughter of Frank James. She moved to Hoboken in the early 1900s and pretended to have intimate knowledge of Dublin, while churning out reams of drivel.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that she was wearing women’s underwear while writing.
(note to self-- check the reccommended dosage on that cold medicine…)
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/18 "1999-12-29T23:30:00Z")
Dr. F – should we collaborate on a column, “the Kind-of-Skewed Dope”? 😉
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [December 29, 1999, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/19 "1999-12-29T23:51:00Z")
What? And take a job away from Marilyn Vos Savant?
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### Author:  [@Minxsmom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minxsmom)
#### Post date: [December 30, 1999, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-he/17147/20 "1999-12-30T00:22:00Z")
Gee, I thought Marilyn was just “The Dope”
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