Bingo has always been about having a great time. The atmosphere, the excitement, the adrenaline as you get close to being able to call out that magic word. It’s all about getting together with your mates and having a grand old time of it away from the humdrum of work, the non-stop running around with the kids, the other half (much as you love them), or your house mates (unless of course you want to drag them down to join in the fun). It’s the perfect way to just kick back and have some harmless fun.
It is because of the fun-loving nature of the game that bingo calls were invented. They were always intended to liven things up and give everyone a giggle and a laugh as they crossed off their numbers before leaping triumphantly to their feet and yelling, “Bingo!”.
Some of these calls have made it into the common vernacular, just as ‘bingo, baby’, which is an expression frequently used to celebrate getting or finding something you dearly want.
If you’re a bingo addict you likely know all the classic calls and the more common ones, but how good are you really? Check out this nifty little quiz to test your bingo call knowledge. Once you’re satisfied you know your Bishop Desmond from your Monkey’s Cousin, have a gander below at our picks for today’s top five weirdest bingo calls!
#1 Teeth in a whore, it’s number four!
While the use of whore to rhyme with four is fairly common, and dirty whore has long-since been used for thirty four, this one takes the cake (and presumably bites it).
#2 Down on your knees, forty-three!
This is a traditional bingo call that may well have developed a considerably kinkier meaning in the modern age, but still remains popular.
#3 J-Lo’s bum, it’s seventy-one!
This one makes the weird list for two reasons, the obvious one being the unnatural obsession that seems to have developed in the collective consciousness for Jennifer Lopez’s posterior, and the second being the fact that one and bum do not rhyme by any stretch of the imagination.
#4 Ethel’s ear, it’s eighty-three!
Another classic that’s more than passing strange, this one doesn’t rhyme either but is far more remarkable for the obscurity of the reference. A bingo legend lost to the modern era, Ethel was supposedly one of the earliest bingo players, and was graced with strangely shaped ears (some say she was also the original fat lady of bingo).
#5 Dumbledore, it’s eighty-four!
If we ever needed further proof of the beloved position of Harry Potter in the hearts of the nation, it’s here. The headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry can now be found at your local bingo hall, loitering in the 80s aisle with Ethel, Grandma (Grandma’s gone to heaven, eighty-seven), and the two fat ladies (eighty-eight).