Armstrong and Miller - RAF Pilots - D Day

The video ‘Armstrong and Miller- RAF Pilots- D Day’ is a sketch of two army men who speak in a very posh accent/manner, and are fighting for their country, however the word choice and dialect is seen as a ‘chavvy’ socialect. This appears to be humorous to the audience watching as it is expected that the two men are very well spoken and are expected to be using sophisticated words and proper English considering the time period and how well they are dressed and presented. They use words such as ‘blud’ and ‘fam’ which implies a common socialect of which young teenagers tend to use. The use of shortening words such as ‘aint’ is also known as a common word to people nowadays whereas back in that period of time, you would be expecting them to say ‘aren’t’ or ‘isn’t’ if anything. They also use swearwords and a lexical set of words, such as ‘pubes’ that would be seen as inappropriate back in that time period. There is a constant repetition of the word ‘like’, which is a very popular filler that many people use in everyday spontaneous conversations. This witty, comical language allows the viewer to relate as hundreds of thousands of people around Britain are victims of using this type of language. Putting it into the prospective of British army men makes us realise how unnatural and bad it sounds to have these words as part of our daily dialect/idiolect.

The controversy throughout this sketch is a light-hearted approach considering the situation that they are in. They are dressed smartly in army/navy suits, sleek hair and smoking on a pipe, however one man is holding a rubber ring and the other man is holding a bucket and spade. This adds to the funny manner of the sketch as they are expected to be fighting for their country for peace; however they have taken on a completely different approach as they think that they are going to the beach, due to being told that the fighting area and drenches are called ‘The Beach’. They have taken this literally, not realising the mistake that they have made. At the end they say how it is too busy to leave the ship and there won’t be any more sunbeds left on the beach, not realising that they should be a strong, determined soldier willing to fight for their country.