But why
Bingo? Have you ever met a dog named Bingo? With so many other “fetching” names
to choose from, you probably haven’t encountered too many dog owners calling
out “Bingo!” at the dog park. Now consider the name “Antidisestablishmentarianism”.
Have you ever met a dog named “Antidisestablishmentarianism”? Well, I used to own one!
 |
| My dog, Antidisestablishmentarianism. He was registered with the American Kennel Club under that name, though we usually called him just “Tarry”. |
There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his
name-o.
B, I, N G O;
B, I, N G O;
B, I, N G O,
and Bingo was his name-o.
The second
verse is the same except that each “B” in the 2nd through 4th lines is replaced
by a hand clap. And in each of the four remaining verses, one more letter in
those lines is replaced by a hand clap, so that by the last verse those lines
consist entirely of claps.
Thus,
“Bingo” has one verse per letter of the dog’s name, and the length of each
verse is also a function of the number of letters in the name. But I’ve always
been amused by thinking about a version in which the dog’s name was
Antidisestablishmentarianism! (And when my family gave me the opportunity to
name our new puppy that, some years ago, I didn’t say no ☺.)
This
suggests the question I asked my students: how much longer would it take to
sing if the dog’s name was much longer than “Bingo”—say, the 28-letter word
“Antidisestablishmentarianism”? Removing the reference to a farmer to make it
easier to squeeze all the syllables in, it might start like this:
There was a dog and
Antidisestablishmentarianism was his name.
A N T I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E N T A R I
A N I S M;
A N T I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E N T A R I
A N I S M;
A N T I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E N T A R I
A N I S M;
Antidisestablishmentarianism was his name-o.
There was
a dog and Antidisestablishmentarianism was his name.
[Clap] N T I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E N T A
R I A N I S M;
[Clap] N T I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E N T A
R I A N I S M;
[Clap] N T I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E N T A
R I A N I S M;
Antidisestablishmentarianism was his name-o.
There was
a dog and Antidisestablishmentarianism was his name.
[Clap clap] T I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E N
T A R I A N I S M;
[Clap clap] T I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E N
T A R I A N I S M;
[Clap clap] T I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E N
T A R I A N I S M;
Antidisestablishmentarianism was his name-o.
There was
a dog and Antidisestablishmentarianism was his name.
[Clap clap clap] I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E
N T A R I A N I S M;
[Clap clap clap] I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E
N T A R I A N I S M;
[Clap clap clap] I D I S E S T A B L I S H M E
N T A R I A N I S M;
Antidisestablishmentarianism was his name-o.
Good luck
with the dozens of consecutive hand claps near the end…
Most of my
students gave the obvious but incorrect answer, 28/5 times as long. The next
most obvious answer, (28/5)2 is much closer but also wrong because it assumes both that the greater number of verses would increase the time by a factor of 28/5 (correct) and that the greater length of each verse would increase the time by a factor of 28/5 (not quite). Do you see why 28/5 per verse isn't quite correct?
The main reason is that --besides the letters in the dog's name-- there are also some words in each verse, and those change length by a different factor. Besides...Okay, I have to admit the problem isn't really well-defined (as mathematicians put it); let's stop here and give you time to do some singing and hand clapping!
The main reason is that --besides the letters in the dog's name-- there are also some words in each verse, and those change length by a different factor. Besides...Okay, I have to admit the problem isn't really well-defined (as mathematicians put it); let's stop here and give you time to do some singing and hand clapping!
Contributed
by: Don Byrd, Ph.D.
Don’s web page.You can read more from Don at his blog.
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