"There was a farmer, had a dog, and BINGO was his name-o..."
So there's this thing about this song that has bothered me for a long, long time. The pronoun "his" is ambiguous. Everyone just assumes it's the dog that's named Bingo, because, let's be honest, 'Bingo' would be a stupid name for a man. But do we know that for sure? No we don't; because maybe, a long time ago, somebody won large at St. Bernard's charity Bingo night, went home, got luckier, and nine months later named the offspring Bingo to commemorate that magical night. Stupider things have happened.
So the dog or the farmer. Which one's Bingo?
And there I remained stuck for many, many years. Anytime the song would come up - and it comes up a lot more often than you might think - I would ask my question. Most people quickly dismissed my question and accused me of thinking too much. (which is a true accusation, by the way). Every once in a while, I'd get someone to consider it long enough that they might say, "huh", but that's as far as that went.
Until the other day, that is. I brought this issue up with a friend, and she replied, "How do we know the dog is a boy?"
Oh Wow! What a new spin. The possibilities that this opened up filled me with wonder. And then my friend executed her coup de gras "How do we even know the farmer isn't a woman?"
And with that, 54 years of ingrained sexism caused my head to explode.
As it stands now, I've decided the farmer's name is Edna, and she grows organic arugula at her place outside of town. As for Bingo - he is definitely a boy; because, while it is still considered poor form to look up between a person's legs, the same is not true of dogs.
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