The Straight Dope
 | |
Type of site | Question and Answer |
|---|---|
| Owner | The Chicago Reader / The Straight Dope Publishing |
| Created by | Cecil Adams |
| Website | www.straightdope.com |
| Alexa rank |
 4,651 (April 2014)[1] |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required only on forums |
| Launched | 1973 |
| Current status | Active |
"The Straight Dope" is an online question-and-answer newspaper column published in the Chicago Reader and syndicated in eight newspapers in the United States.[2]
Newspapers
The column derives its name from the American idiom meaning roughly "the true information; the full story"[3] and covers many subjects, including history, science, old wives' tales, urban legends, and inventions. The column appears under the tagline: "Fighting ignorance since 1973 (it's taking longer than we thought)." First published by the Reader in 1973, the column is written by Cecil Adams and illustrated by Slug Signorino.[4]
Books
To date, Adams has published five collections of his columns, and his "assistant" Ed Zotti has published a children's collection in the Adams style, Know It All.[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.
See also
- Urban legend
- Snopes.com
- FactCheck.org
- TruthOrFiction.com
- The Skeptic's Dictionary
- MythBusters
- List of common misconceptions
References
- ↑ "Straightdope.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
- ↑ Newspapers carrying The Straight Dope, 2013, fr/ The Straight Dope
- ↑ McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. P.652 © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc
- ↑ "The Straight Dope FAQ". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
- ↑ "The Straight Dope Books". The Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
- ↑ "Mike Lukas". Deja Vu Comedy Club. Archived from the original on 2008-02-06. Retrieved 2008-01-27.