Bing Crosby Eats A Sandwich, 1945, Photographer not credited.
Hi, my name is, what?
As a young boy, Harry Lillis Crosby Jr. was a superfan of a comic strip called “The Bingville Bugle” which earned him the nickname “Bingo From Bingville”, coined by his neighbour. As time passed, the “o” was dropped and Bing Crosby went on to become a pioneer of crooner jazz.
Do you know your bingo lingo?
Bingo callers use specific phrases to make sure every number is understood loud and clear. There are 90 numbers in all and as many nicknames, including the cutie “3, Cup Of Tea”, the risqué “30, Dirty Gertie” and the unusual “44, Droopy Drawers”. Erhm, what now?!
Your turn : if you could name your very own number, from 1 to 90, what would it be?
What a trip
There are towns named Bingo in 10 countries, most of them located above the Equator. The northernmost Bingo is a village in Maine (USA) and the southernmost is found in Gaza (Mozambique).
In Burkina Faso, the town serves as the capital of the Bingo Department. Bingo was also a province of Japan, now known as the eastern part of Hiroshima Prefecture.
How far would YOU go?
We definitely got some good laughs out of this darkly humorous cartoon, written and directed by Patrick Schoenmaker. It’s under 3 minutes long so yes, you DO need to watch it right now.
Fill ‘er up
In the military, “bingo fuel” refers to a critical point in fuel levels. It is the minimum fuel required to safely reach a destination (or an alternate airport) with enough reserves. A pilot radioing “bingo fuel” would be announcing the need to immediately modify their flight plan.
B – Be forever mine
This doo-wop hit by The Turbans is sure to make you wanna shake your B for booty. Listen while you read on!
Created/Published: Cincinnati ; New York : The Strobridge Litho. Co., Lithograph, 92 x 60 cm, 1916
Feast your eyes
American artist Maggie O’Neill cleverly recycled used “flimsies” (thin paper bingo cards) to create her Bingo Collection backdrops. She states that “Each dot was put there with desire and hope to shout out BINGO!”. Don’t you just find it makes the piece even more magical? Check out her Bingo Collection and other work here : Maggie O’Neill | Artist
Maggie O’Neill, Mixed media, Original art, 24″ x 24″
Drink up… children?!
The catchy (albeit mildly annoying) children’s favorite, where singers spell out B-I-N-G-O while progressively replacing each letter with a clap as the song goes on, might have a very interesting origin story.
Legend has it the first ever version was actually a drinking song, spawned from the imagination of a London actor named William Swords in the 1780’s. In his rendition :
“The farmer loved a cup of good ale […],
he called it rare good stingo.
S—T with an I — I with an N,
N with a G — G with an O”.
If you messed up the spelling part, you’d drink! We can see that getting messy very quickly, phew!
Beer Bar Regular Patrons, Artist Unknown, Year ca 1915, Public Domain
B-E-A-N-O
Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
Bingo’s ancestor was a 1530’s Italian lottery game called “Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia”. The game eventually made its way across the Atlantic in the 1920’s, almost 400 years later! Back then, players marked the numbers on their cards with dried beans, that’s why they called it Beano. Apparentlyyy, a toy salesmen once attended a game where someone got overexcited and mistakenly yelled “Bingo!” when the winning number was called. And that, kids, is how Bingo got its name-O.
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