No More Fat Ladies At Tyneside Bingo Halls

Calls like legs eleven and two fat ladies have been a part of bingo games for more years than most modern players have picked up their bingo cards but they could soon be completely defunct as political correctness goes a tad too far. A number of bingo halls across the country, and especially in Tyneside, have stopped using such traditional calls just in case they offend gamers or players.

While the move has been welcomed by some, it has also been roundly criticised by a number of bingo aficionados and the Plain English Campaign, whose founder Chrissie Maher has said of the move “we can’t let political correctness rule our language”.

Rob Hutchison who owns the website Online Bingo Club has set up a petition to save traditional bingo calls saying that “the call of two fat ladies is part of our heritage. It’s worth sticking up for”. So far, his petition has gained 3,000 members and with more than 200,000 website members he’s hoping this number will grow.

Online bingo sites tend to be themed in some way, and many of them play on the traditional bingo calls but offline bingo halls believe that the terms may be degrading or offensive to their regular players and this is why they are calling a stop to them. What do the players think?

One 80 year old player said “as long as my numbers come up, they can say whatever they want”. In all honesty this probably typifies the view of many players and indifference is likely to play as big a part in the possible ban as out and out defiance.

What are your views on the use of traditional calls?

Would you be offended if you heard legs 11 or two fat ladies called in your local bingo hall?