<i>The Straight Dope is a website based on people submitting questions to Cecil who, in turn, does the research and presents the findings for you along with some of his trademark witticism. It's been a wildly successful website.</i><p>That's exactly my point: he did a little research, found one primary source upon which to rely, and then proceeds to disagree with that source, based solely (as far as I can tell) on his opinion. Why wouldn't I just listen to that source directly, which is based on actual expertise?<p>And its success is completely irrelevant to whether he knows what he's talking about.