: : Hanging out with Dad : :
Dad : Back when I was still in school, there used to be a club in Kuching that have their own bingo sessions. It was called Lotto then. They used to call out the numbers under a different name. You know, disguises and all that.
Wena : Ok. Like what?
Dad : The one that I distinctly remember was TWO FAT LADIES. It was for the number 88. Another one was TWO LITTLE PUPPIES for the number 22. Two cute little puppied sitting down with their paws up, looking like number 2.
Anyone who grew up in Kuching during 1950s-1960s remember this? I had a good time laughing with my Dad over this.
I don’t know about visual descriptions of the numbers but in the UK, they used rhyming calls:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3004607.stm
My elephant like memory remembers this when my folks used to talk about it. And my aunties and uncles who are about 60 ish talk about. All the time. The first time I played lotto with them, I didn’t understand what they were say…oops I said lotto – does that date me?? – Stef
yea, and beautiful long legs for number eleven!
Pascale ;p
It’s not just in Kuching, Wena. Bingo’s got all kinds of nicknames for numbers. The ones you mentioned are given based on the shape of the numbers. 82 is Fat lady with a duck. 7 is crutch (as in crutches). And therefore 87 is Fat lady with a crutch. 27 would be duck with a crutch. Fun, eh?
i remember as a child i like to refer to the no. 8 as ‘botak head’. probably because of the rhyme and also i look to the no. 8 as a big fat bald man! 🙂
ah yes no. 11 for a pair of legs. i used to be blur blur when people say “no bus? well there is always bus no. 11.” they mean you can always walk. 🙂
hi james. actually, the joke is the club it was held. due to certain reasons, i’ve refrained from mentioning the nature of the club although it is not a recreational club. one of which is that i could get into trouble with a lot of angry people!
although i must say that i was totally tickled pink by which club it was.