[Ads-l] "on one's bingo card"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Bingo cards are sometimes created with words or events listed in each
square. For example, it appears that back on Oct 2, 2008 bingo cards
with words in each square were created for a televised debate.

On twitter people complained when a distinctive word spoken during the
debate was not listed on their bingo card. These tweets were literal.
Over time figurative use has emerged. It might be tricky to determine
when the transition to figurative use occurred.

Earlier examples may exist. These search results are from the twitter
search engine only.

[Begin tweet info]
Jamie Stephens @jamiestephens
Totally bummed that "maverick" is not on my bingo card
10:24 PM · Oct 2, 2008
https://x.com/jamiestephens/status/944340458
[End tweet info]

[Begin tweet info]
Jennifer Pahlka @pahlkadot
mainstreeter isn't even on my bingo card :-(  Nor durn right.
9:28 PM · Oct 2, 2008
https://x.com/pahlkadot/status/944154443
[End tweet info]

[Begin tweet info]
Jonathan Hsieh @hsiehdy
Man, why isn't "surge" on my bingo card :(
10:15 PM · Oct 2, 2008
https://x.com/hsiehdy/status/944306355
[End tweet info]

[Begin CSPAN article info]
October 2, 2008 Debate Transcript
The Biden-Palin Vice Presidential Debate
IFILL: Good evening from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
I’m Gwen Ifill of “The NewsHour” and “Washington Week” on PBS. Welcome
to the first and the only 2008 vice presidential debate between the
Republican nominee, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, and the Democratic
nominee, Joe Biden of Delaware.
https://www.debates.org/voter-education/debate-transcripts/2008-debate-transcript-2/
[Begin CSPAN article info]

Garson

On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 9:56 AM Rich Lowenthal
<000018596069864c-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> It's been around for a while. The earliest NY Times citation I found in
> a quick search was from 2019:
>
> "I will admit that I did not have "Darcy Kuemper's premature trash talk"
> on my bingo card of things that could turn around the Wild season, but
> here we are."
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1366364/2019/11/11/dgb-weekend-power-rankings-early-season-surprises-slow-down-caps-and-blues-stay-hot-and-don-cherry-thoughts/
>
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "Jonathan Lighter"
> <00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date 1/8/2026 09:41:59
> Subject "on one's bingo card"
>
> >Have been hearing this on cable news often in the past couple of months.
> >
> >CNN:
> >
> >"I know you didn't have being gassed three times before breakfast in your
> >bingo card."
> >
> >'Among one's responsibilities or expectations.'
> >
> >JL
> >
> >--
> >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org