The Straight Dope

The Straight Dope was a question-and-answer newspaper column written under the pseudonym Cecil Adams. Contributions were made by multiple authors, and it was illustrated (also pseudonymously) by Slug Signorino.^[1] It was first published in 1973 in the Chicago Reader as well as in print syndication nationally in the United States,^[2] and on a website with the same name.

The Straight Dope

Type of site	Question and answer
Owner	Sun-Times / Straight Dope Publishing
Created by	Cecil Adams (pseudonym)
URL	straightdope.com
Commercial	Yes
Registration	Required only on forum
Launched	1973; 52 years ago (1973)
Current status	No longer updated

The final column was printed on June 27, 2018, including a statement that it was only being placed on hiatus, though the column has not returned.^[3]

Name and tagline

The column derives its name from the American idiom meaning roughly "the true information; the full story"^[4] and covers many subjects, including history, science, old wives' tales, urban legends, and inventions. The column appeared under the tagline: "Fighting ignorance since 1973. (It's taking longer than we thought.)”

Books

Five collections of columns have been published, sometimes referred to as The Straight Dope Cyclopedia of Human Knowledge:

• The Straight Dope (1984)
• More of the Straight Dope (1988)
• Return of the Straight Dope (1994)
• The Straight Dope Tells All (1998)
• Triumph of the Straight Dope (1999)

In addition, the 1993 collection Know It All was published for younger audiences by Cecil's "assistant" Ed Zotti.^[5]

Television

In 1996, the A&E Network briefly aired a show based on the column called The Straight Dope, hosted and co-written by comedian Mike Lukas.^[6] A podcast has also been released sporadically.