How do you get a sweet little 80-year-old lady to say the F word? Get another sweet little 80-year-old lady to yell "BINGO!"

This is a modern, anonymous joke that circulates widely in oral humor and on the internet, especially in collections of “clean-ish” one-liners about aging and retirement-community life. It plays on the common association of bingo with senior centers, church basements, and retirement homes, where “sweet little old ladies” are stereotyped as polite and mild-mannered. The setup invites the listener to expect a taboo swear word, but the punchline reveals that the “F word” is actually an angry reaction to someone else calling “BINGO!” first—an experience familiar to competitive bingo players. Because it is anonymous and folkloric in nature, it is difficult to tie to a single first publication or performer.

The humor hinges on misdirection and stereotype reversal. By asking how to make an elderly woman “say the F word,” the joke primes an expectation of profanity and transgression; the punchline reframes the “F word” as an exasperated outburst triggered by a trivial but emotionally charged situation. It also gently satirizes the intensity of competition in seemingly harmless pastimes, suggesting that strong feelings can surface in any age group and any setting. The joke’s appeal comes from the contrast between the cultural image of elderly women as decorous and the sudden, relatable flash of frustration when someone else wins.

1) “How do you get an old lady to say the F-word? Yell ‘Bingo!’”
2) “How do you make a sweet old lady swear? Let someone else call ‘Bingo!’”
3) “How do you get a room full of little old ladies to say the F-word? Have one of them shout ‘Bingo!’”