[King Gizzard]

THEY are saucy phrases which have brought a smile to generations of bingo players.

When a bingo caller shouts out “two fat ladies'', then all the players know that the number 88 has been pulled out. Just the same, when they hear “legs 11'' then they know they can mark off number 11 on their card.

It's been part of the harmless fun of the game for decades.

But now, at one Suffolk bingo hall, those phrases have been banned - because council officials fear they might offend some people.

Bingo caller John Sayers, who is also a councillor, has been advised by officers at Sudbury Town Council that continuing to use the humorous lingo could land them in deep trouble.

But it's had the opposite effect, with some players voting with their feet and joining a less politically correct game in nearby Great Cornard.

Mr Sayers, a town, district and county councillor for Sudbury, who calls the numbers at the Town Hall every Monday, said: “I was disappointed but I took good advice. I did not want to bring the Town Hall and myself into disrepute.

“There is a chance if you said 'two fat ladies' and there was a bingo call and you look across the hall and saw two fat ladies they could take it personally. Then we do not know how we stand insurance-wise.

“In my personal opinion it seems a bit of nonsense and it takes, to a certain extent, a lot of fun out of it.

“It does speed things up but it is like everything else, it has become too precise. It is a shame.

“A lot of people go to the more unofficial bingo in Great Cornard where they have a comment to make about every number.

“It is quite extraordinary the number of things you have to think twice about now. You have to think before you breathe nowadays.”

Sue Brotherwood, clerk of Sudbury Town Council, said she had made the decision in the after reading in a paper about a man being sued through calling at bingo.

“In particular with John being a councillor we have to be politically correct and whilst any insults were never meant I am afraid nowadays in the litigation society we live in people sometimes take these things personally,” she said. “The last thing we want is for John to be sued because he said two fat ladies, 88, and there just so happened to be two fat ladies there.

“It is very sad because it is part of the fun of bingo but unfortunately in today's society people take it literally.”

Despite the change in calling more than 100 people still keep their eyes down for a full house at the Town Hall every Monday and helped raise £3,000 for charities this year. And they still manage to reference an old favourite when Mr Sayers calls 22 by giving a 'quack, quack' in return.

As arista himself would say, Sign of the Times.


This really is going a bit too far don't you think?

[InOne]

Yep, thank fuck it's only there.

[Beastie]

I knew about this months ago. My college tutor told me because it is apparently "politically incorrect"

Bloody hell you can't say anything now!

[Jack_]

Ridiculous.

Someone should go to this club and insult the person behind this decision.

Who gives a fuck if it insults two fat women? They're fat, their problem. Get over it.

[Beastie]

Originally Posted by Jack_

Ridiculous.

Someone should go to this club and insult the person behind this decision.

Who gives a fuck if it insults two fat women? They're fat, their problem. Get over it.

haha spot on.

[Harry!]

If your fat go on a diet or be quiet. Why change things now?