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. It was first published in 1973 in the Chicago Reader as well as in print syndication nationally in the United States, and on a website with the same name. The final column was printed on June 27, 2018, including a statement that it was only being placed on hiatus, though it never did return.

Name and tagline

The column derives its name from the American idiom meaning roughly "the true information; the full story" 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: In addition, the 1993 collection Know It All was published for younger audiences by Cecil's "assistant" Ed Zotti.

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. A podcast has also been released sporadically.