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I'm doing some maintenance work on some software - whose original developers are unknown. There is a report called the "All Zingo Report", which basically dumps all the data for the primary "entity" in the database (the primary entity represents a person that has been referred to a government-associated medical program).

Why would the word "zingo" be used to describe such a report?

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    I've never heard that word before, except maybe as a sound effect. It sounds like a term specific to that industry/domain. Possibly specific to that particular development team. You might want to ask one of the other people around.
    – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner
    Jul 28, 2011 at 15:24
  • The closer word you can find on a dictionary is zing, which means "energy, enthusiasm, or liveliness."
    – apaderno
    Jul 28, 2011 at 15:41
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    It may be a reference to the game Zingo!, which is similar to Bingo, but involves filling an entire card. This would make some sense if you are dumping a whole load of data.
    – Kit Z. Fox ♦
    Jul 28, 2011 at 16:13
  • Just lately it seems to me a number of Questions are being either closed or voted in that direction for what seem to me at least questionable reasons. I've voted to reopen, and I don't think my decision is significantly related to the fact that I chose to Answer.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jul 28, 2011 at 16:19
  • zingo produces over 5000 references in NGrams. Many other words with far less currency have been asked about on EL&U, and I feel it's also relevant to point out that this word is more "current" than "obsolete", which definitely applies to some terms covered by the site.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jul 28, 2011 at 16:24

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I have discovered from the original designers that the report was named after the Bingo-like children's game (as KitFox comments above).

It may be a reference to the game Zingo!, which is similar to Bingo, but involves filling an entire card. This would make some sense if you are dumping a whole load of data.

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  • You should summarize KitFox's description in your answer, in case the comment is later deleted.
    – Bradd Szonye
    Jun 12, 2013 at 20:27
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From The Ins & Outs of Law Firm Mismanagement (1994)...

Stevie: Zingo, far out.

Loretta: What do you mean, "zingo, far out"?

Stevie: Technically, "zingo" means either "great idea" or "exactly", and the "far out" is generally just added for emphasis.

In the 80s, McGraw-Hill published an extensive series of teaching/reference books with "Zingo" in the title. Presumably with part of the above sense, but also perhaps with the connotations of "comprehensive" that clearly apply to OP's context.

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  • +1 - The local amusement park when I was a kid had a big wooden roller-coaster called The Zingo. I'd never heard the word anywhere else, but I'm guessing this is the idea they were going for. See google.com/… for pics.
    – T.E.D.
    Jul 28, 2011 at 16:15
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I was listening to an excerpt from the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast posted on Wikipedia when I heard this word used (2 minutes 20 seconds in) as an expression of abrupt transition ".. I see a kind of greenish streak then, Zingo!, something smacked the ground.". The word Bingo might be used in the same way. My search for where Zingo might originate lead me here.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/War-of-the-worlds-broadcast.ogg

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You said this is a medical-related database, and Zingo is the trade name for a lidocaine injector. Whether or not that'll help clear up the mystery of the All Zingo Report, I have no idea.

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