Why Is Bingo His Name-O?

A new school year is upon us, no doubt prompting teachers across the country to teach and sing the old “Bingo Was His Name-O” song…whether they like it or not!

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”.

“Antidisestablishmentarianism” contains 28 letters and is one of the longest words in the English language. The first day of a high-school math class a few years ago, I explained to my students where the name came from; the reason has minor mathematical implications. Specifically, I was inspired to call him that by the children’s song, “Bingo”. The first verse goes like this:

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!

Contributed by:  Don Byrd, Ph.D.

Don’s web page.
You can read more from Don at his blog.