lunes, 7 de mayo de 2012

The two Ronnies: The Optician's

The Two Ronnies was a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the comedy duo of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.

The Opticians is probably their most famous and hilarious sketch.

Self-study activity:
The best thing anybody can do with The Opticians is simply put their feet up and enjoy it.


Apart from that, there are a number of linguistic aspects we can draw our attention to after a closer viewing of the sketch.

Vocabulary to do with not seeing well
optician’s
the (sense of) sight
spectacles
frames
test frames
eye charts
test your eyes
lens
prescription

The frequent use of “you know” and “you see” by the speaker to signal some kind of explanation and give himself time to think.

The use of shall we? in question tags after “Let’s”.

The use of would/could to make polite requests.

The use of What about...? to make suggestions.


You can read the transcript here.