Lingo/YMMV

YMMV Tropes related to the Game Show Lingo (L-I-N-G-O).

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• Accidental Innuendo / That Came Out Wrong: Several.
  • Shandi: "The ladies have experience with pulling balls."
  • Chuck, after the word was SPANK: "[The crew is] always spanking something over there--whoa."
  • Shandi: "Okay, guys, let's have a look at your balls."
• Adaptation Displacement: The 1987-88 version has become long since forgotten by anyone except hardcore game show fans. Didn't help that it 1) ran just 26 weeks during a single season, 2) was pulled from most stations after 13 weeks, 3) had major problems with paying out to its winners, and 4) overhauled its on-camera personnel for the last five weeks.
• Funny Moments: The GSN era did an April Fools' Day episode in Season 2, which pitted hosts of other GSN originals against each other. Mark Walberg of Russian Roulette and Marc Summers of Win Tuition played against Kennedy of Friend or Foe and Graham Elwood of Cram, with Todd Newton of Whammy! as announcer/comic relief. Marc and Mark curb-stomped their opponents to a 500-0 score, the first time that this ever happened; they then went on to get 9 words in Bonus Lingo, setting a new record (at the time).
  • After winning a bonus round, the team celebrates and a lady hits her partner right in the eye while jumping up and down.

Chuck: We'll rub a piece of meat on her eye...

• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The Dutch version of the show is very popular, having been aired continuously since 1989.
• Replacement Scrappy: Compared to Season 3's Stacey, Shandi wasn't exactly the most believable smart gal. She got better, though.
  • And your mileage is gonna vary, hard, on her getting better as well.
  • Bill Engvall is seen as this by some.
• Retroactive Recognition: An odd example. Rielle Hunter, who would later become infamous as Sen. John Edwards' mistress, was a contestant on the Woolery version. Once people realized that, the jokes began flying.
• So Bad It's Good: The first Woolery season, taped in the Netherlands, had a tendency toward very dumb contestants and insanely-low production values (Chuck's bonus round spiel was mostly pre-recorded, the show very obviously used an applause machine, etc.).
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Oy.
  • The 1980s version changed its No Lingo payout structure so that it was determined by the kind of Lingo that won the front game, with a diagonal leading to $64,000. (Also, they bizarrely covered up the No Lingo score display with artwork of the show's logo.)
  • Many fans of the genre hated the fact that the GSN version didn't straddle games and kept changing its set, theme music, etc. The set changes were somewhat justified in that Season 1 was the only one filmed in the Netherlands (on the same set that their version used), and the lack of straddling was justified in how heavily GSN reruns the series.
  • The Engvall version has generated a mixed reaction from fans, and that's putting it VERY mildly.
• What an Idiot!: And how.
  • On a Season 2 Christmas episode, a word starts with a K.
    • Team 1 spells KNIGHT, complete with Oh Crap face when they realize the word's too long.
    • Team 2 spells KNIFE, which gives them the KN. KNOCK then gives them KNO, and KNOWN and KNOLL both fail to give them any more letters.
    • Team 2 then guesses KNOCH.
    • Team 1 is given a bonus letter; with KNOT_ showing, one member guesses KNOTT. Just then, her teammate says, "No, it's KNOTS."
    • Team 2 finally gets the right answer, KNOTS.
  • Two ditzes in Season 1 tried to make APPROACH a five-letter word; perhaps even the board operator was amused by this, as the board read APPPO. This same team went on to become the only one in the show's history to get zero words right in Bonus Lingo (owing both to ridiculous guesses such as KAZAA, and the lack of a "bonus letter" rule in Season 1).
  • Two contestants tried to guess a word that starts with RIF, and the E and L are out of place. They spelled RIFEL and it cost them the game (and their dignity, as it was their fifth misspelling that day).
  • One time, both teams misspelled GAUGE as G-U-A-G-E, back to back.
  • Another team in Season 1 had ST__Y showing near the end of Bonus Lingo, with an R out of place. Their final guess? THIS. No, seriously.
  • Most contestants in the Engvall bonus round completely freeze up and whittle away the seconds, despite his telling them "just say anything".