bollocks = a rubbish or inaccurate statement or opinion plus are an actual slang name for testicles. The jokes are also dependent on the working class accent of SE England where "h"s are dropped a lot. (Os, Hose, Hoes). While they're excellent and a national treasure in the UK, some of their most famous sketches - the Mastermind Quiz one for example - require a knowledge of UK slang and current affairs in the 70s and 80s.
@@halcroj It's not only the resident SE population that drop Aitches, most English did before the Victorian age, an hangover from Norman French/English. The letter is even spelled without one! A word beginning with aitch is preceded with an not a, as if it is a vowel.
@@halcroj working class south east accent? I’m south east rural kent. We don’t generally drop aitches here. Only the London overspill families down here from the 60’s onwards (where children and their children have picked up and continued the family way of speaking) and Essex tend to drop aitches.
Four candles was apparently voted one of the greatest skits in the UK. Not sure if it's true but still one of the great skits the two Ronnie's has ever done
There was a cartoon in Private Eye to commemorate the death of Ronnie Barker. His grave and headstone, next to which were 4 fork handles. Cry? I nearly did.
@@roberttaylor4772 Plus at Ronnie Barker's funeral - Having 4 candles being very prominent... He would have appreciated it and laughed with the attending crowd!
I was born in the early 50s in England and these types of stores were common in towns and villages through out the country,they would stock just about everything,farming implements,tools,clothes,food,electrical equipment etc.I understand you not getting everything but it's all about the time and the dialect of the area,to me this hilarious,stay safe and well.
Sadly, this is the worst possible clip for American viewers, as it involves wordplay unique to the UK. For some reason, people keep suggesting it to US reactors who are mostly baffled throughout. You did a lot better than most. The final joke is that billhooks (tools for hooking down branches) sound like "bollocks", a British word for testicles often used as a mild swearword. Pumps in the UK are slip-on shoes worn by men and children mostly. When I was at school, we wore them for sports.
Don't worry about having a "wtf" look on your face with the last joke. In an extended version of this clip it goes to the Two Ronnies (as this was part of a compilation show just before Ronnie Barker (the big one) died) and Ronnie B explains that he wasn't happy about the ending himself (he wrote it). He said "When I wrote this sketch I wasn't happy with the ending, Billhooks, too obscure, a bit too coarse. But I just couldn't think of another ending. But then just before we did the sketch at the London Palladium the perfect tag came to me. I was so please it was so obvious. Instead of the young man being called on, a big slovenly girl in a overall came on took the list from Ronnie C, looked at me, looked at the list and then said "Ok Sir, what kind of knockers are you looking for?""
This sketch (regularly voted the one of nation's favourite is from 1976. It was written by Ronnie Barker (the customer), he sent it in under the false name Gerald Wiley because he wanted the producers to judge it on it's own merits rather than having it accepted just because it was his work. Ronnie B was one of this country's best ever comic actors and star of several brilliant sitcoms as well as being in the two Ronnies. He wasan absolute master of clever wordplay. I recommend you look up the mispronounced word sketches he did, they really showcase his talents.
Before trainers came about, we wore pumps for PE at school. They didn't have laces, they were slip-on with an elasticated band over the top of foot. I remember there being white and brown ones, but at my school we had to have black ones. To carry and store them we had pump bags. A cloth bag with a draw string to close the bag and hang it up by.
@@Hallzilla That's mentioned in the Wikipedia article, the Plimsoll Shoe. There seems to have been a quite a few regional variations on what they were called. Bit like bread rolls/baps/cobs, etc.
It's such a shame that this sketch is lost in translation for you guys. I'm 57 and can remember seeing this as a kid and crying with laughter at it, even all these years later, and knowing it almost word for word its still funny to me. Still this is sort of the point of your channel any way isn't it, to see how you react to stuff from the U.K and other countries, so its still good :)
This was first shown in the seventies on a Friday night. I had a Saturday job in.......yup, a hardware store. I lost count of how many jokers came in asking for fork handles, hose, plugs etc the next day. Old fashioned hardware stores like that really still existed then and the brown work coat (ours were blue heavy gauge Nylon) was a sign of an employee who could literally find just what you were asking for. Mostly long gone now, alas.
Morecambe & Wise - the Andre Preview (Previn) sketch is a classic. In case you haven’t heard of Mr Previn, he was an American serious classical conductor and pianist.
Yes, this is shown almost every Christmas over here in a compilation show of their best bits. They put their guests in situations and its fun to see how they run with the joke.
The joke was the confusion between names, but I can see while you struggled, as they depend on getting the differences in pronunciations. Ronnie Barker himself admitted the final joke was weak. You really should do more Two Ronnies, it's a sketch show, not a sitcom.
@@martin15313 It was Ronnie C (the other half of the two Ronnie's) who did a NEW(?) version of the sketch: In a greengrocers and (then) an up- to-date version, about an Apple... Amusing, but without the 'team' - it lost a lot. I miss them. 😔
Well done, team. If this was an exam for Americans understanding UK comedy it would be at degree level. I was married to an American for 27 years and it took her about 10 years to get most of the nuances. She had difficulty understanding my dad at all, right up to the day he died. He was a cockney from Limehouse with a very thick accent, a definite vocabulary and way of speaking. BTW. "Mon repos" was common name for your house. It's where you retire to after the travails of the day (or life). That's why he needed two "O"s. That's also why he could have needed a "P".
The final joke is because he didn't pronounce the H in "Fork Handles" so it sounded like "Four Candles". If "Bill Hooks" was pronounced the same way it would sound like the swear word "Bollocks". Also that's why the shopkeeper assumed that he meant "Hose" when he actually said "O's". Also there's a pub near where I live called the Four Candles named after this sketch.
This is the first reaction I've watched of this famous comedy sketch that due to using a totally different language managed to suck all the joy and wonder out of their brilliant comedic timing and script writing prowess. Yes it's old and few people would buy a separate fork handle these days, and the idea that the shop keeper would get what you asked for ended around the 70's if not earlier in some parts of the UK, but well done for honestly reacting to a sketch that went well over your heads.
There was an alternate ending to this sketch, where instead of another male shop assistant taking over, a "big slovenly girl" would come out and say "Right then sir, what kind of knockers are you looking for?" 🤣 Also, back in the day, that's how shops were. You'd go in and ask for what you want and the shopkeeper would retrieve the items. I'm not sure if it was the same in the US at the time but it was definitely the way shops used to be run here in the UK.
While i was a very young child i remember going to stores like it in the village my grandma lived in at the time, this would have been the very early 90's. So even then stores like it still existed. We'd go in and give the shopping list to the shopkeeper and then get to sit and have a cup of tea while they went around the back and the shelves getting everything for you. Though i rarely ever sat still and was more interested in looking at all the shelves of seemingly completely random stuff behind the counter.
There was a shop very like this one in Oxford well into the 90s, possibly into the 2000s. When it closed down, people were very upset. They had grown up knowing anything could be bought at Gill's.
We still have a similar store in my village. Also, in Ireland, there are stores where you give your list to the shopkeeper and drink Guinness while he gets it.
this is a master work in word play and accents, the two ronnies are brilliant at word play Fork Handles garden Forks the ones with prongs., power plugs for the bathroom, rather than the things that go into sinks to stop the water draining, Sore Tips sounds like Saw tips O's as in for use in the words mOn RepOse. O's in the english languuage some people drop the H in words so HOSE what water comes out can sound like o's or a garden HOEs, thats could be O's as well
Ronnie Barker was a master of puns and wordplay. Check out some of his monologues (especially the mispronounciation one and the Egyptian Hieroglyphs one), and sketches such as The Water Pub, The Ice Cream Parlour, Mastermind, Phone Calls, Opticians.... honestly there are way too many to mention! Ronnie B was also a fantastic character actor and it's hard to believe that all his characters are actually the same actor. Norman Fletcher from "Porridge" is totally different to Arkwright from "Open All Hours"
I think your reaction shows much of the humour in this sketch doesn't stretch across the Atlantic- even something as simple as understanding many Brits drop the "h" on words so handle becomes 'andle (literally as it reads- "andle"). So four candles merges into fork 'andles. Glorious word play throughout this sketch which I could watch all day. One of the best British TV sketches of all time. And almost 50 years later, if we have a power cut my wife and I still shout- have we got "four candles"......and laugh like children.
My parents lived on an island served by a ferry, about 2 hours north of Seattle. It's a lot more "modern" now but back in the 1970s there were far fewer kinds of stores, just a grocery store at the north end, and at the south end a wonderful general store. It was built out on pilings above the bay, and had everything. Food products, big kegs of nails of various description, and every size of Levis, parts to repair toilets, chainsaw chain, parts for engine repairs and boat and dock repair, pots, pans, just about anything you could need, less lumber. Had to ferry to the mainland for that. It was bewildering. Oh, and they made their own amazing ice cream. It burned down in the 1980s and I cried. I loved that store. . Try the "One Ronnie" (after the other Ronnie died) sketch "My Blackberry Isn't Working". Watch for when the vendor almost loses it.
Ronnie B admitted the ending was weak. Many years later, doing the sketch in the London Palladium Theatre the ending was changed. Instead of the man coming out at the end a voluptious women came out looked at the list and said "What kind of knockers are you looking for?"!!!!!
One of the all-time great sketches in uk comedy history! The Ronnie's were amazing but Ronnie's Barker was a comedy writing genius that's well worth looking further into. Their Mastermind sketch was brilliant also! Somewhat lost in translation perhaps.....🤔
@@Genesisrequiem if there’s one thing Brits do well its sketch comedy. The Fast Show Little Britain Smack the Pony Burnisitoun Pythons Harry Enfield Brass Eye/The Day Today
The word pumps is the commonly used word for Plimsolls. Which were back in my school days the only shoes allowed in the school Gym, because the soles were made of a non marking rubber
Classic British humour can be very subtle. The two Ronnie's was a sketch show with lots of self contained skits. This sketch was all about the word play and miss communication caused by a strong accent. I recommend you watch "Open all hours" with Ronnie Barker and David Jason, its my personal favourite of his works.
The Two Ronnies were brilliant, you should see the Christmas shows. As for the Bill Hooks, I always thought it was another way for the audience to think "bollocks". In thoughs days you couldn't use certain language but you could lead the audience to come up with it themselves using innuendo.
@@alansmith3781 I would say it's a forestry tool more than a farming one, used mostly for coppicing and hedge laying, but the real question is what is it supposed to be confused with.
Even by the time of this sketch this type of shop was well out of date. However, it would be recognised by a lot of British folk as the very old fashioned type of general store. So beloved and famous was this sketch that at Ronnie Barker's memorial there were four candles. Likewise the same was done for Ronnie Corbett.
This clip is a stand alone sketch which plays on the regional dialects as a lot of words in the English language have numerous different meanings. I suggested that you watched this clip by yourselves and not do a reaction just so you get an idea of this type of comedy which has been a foundation for decades on British comedy and culture. Ronnie Barker, the taller one, wrote a huge amount of the comedy he performed and is considered a comedic genius in Britain. I also don't fully understand the last joke in the sketch, I think that maybe if it was spoken by the customer it would sound like a rude word but the rest of it had me in stitches. Thank you again for your great channel and thank you for trying to learn about the British culture, Midwest couple are the best 👌 👍 😍
There are still stores like this, usually camping holiday destinations where you can get fishing stuff, gas, door handles, food, cutlery etc etc etc. can never go in them and walk out without buying something.
Legendary skit. Does help knowing the local lingo. I worked in a shop exactly like this in England. You can still find plenty of shops like this. We call it a DIY shop (do it yourself) just bits and bobs for your home. The guy really isn't getting it lol
This great sketch was used in training videos to highlight clarity, one of many by them. I just like the fact you colonials are having to explain the jokes to yourselves to try and understand it. There were stores like this in more remote areas in the good old days. Ronnie Barker did a wonderful British Prison Sitcom in the 70's called Porridge - well worth a watch.
If you are looking for classic comedy, I'd suggest Morecombe and Wise Andrew Preview (with Andre Previn), singing in the rain, and the stripper (it is clean, honest). Also Monty Python fish dance and Ministry of silly walks, The 2 Ronnies Mastermind is good but you may need to look up the people mentioned as it is rather out of date these days. (Mastermind was a quiz show that was quite highbrow). come to think of it, Morecombe and Wise did a version of Mastermind too. 4 candles/fork handles seems to be quite baffling to many non British people - though at Ronnie B's memorial service at Westminster Abbey, they actually put four candles on the alter. Oh and the Ronnie Barker mispronunciation sketch.
I always thought the same but the more I look at the Previn sketch on M&W (as utterly brilliant as it is), the more you realise that Eric's mannerisms, wit, comedic genius just don't translate in the same way across the Atlantic. In fact, I'm surprised by watching the reaction videos just how much of our humour is often uniquely British.
If you are British and over the age of 45 then you would understand everything the Two Ronnies said here to be fair that are bits in this sketch the Two Ronnies made shows from 1971 to 1988 some of what they do is more easily understandable to Americans. I suggest you look into a Two Ronnies sketch called Jewish insurance
This was filmed in the 70s. This sketch was performed at The Pallidium a very famous theatre in London with two differences. Ronnie Barker (the big one) died in 2005 and Ronnie Corbett died in 2016. This is how hardware shops were in Britain my dad told me, now they are very big stores like B & Q and Wickes. You missed the bit were Ronnie Barker (known as The Governor which he past on to Sir David Jason who starred with him in Porridge, Hark At Barker and Open All Hours) explains about the sketch, he retired in 1988, a number of years later he received a lifetime achievement award presented by Ronnie Corbett and Sir David Jason. Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett appeared in a show with John Cleese presented by the late Sir David Frost (who got Nixon to talk) , the three of them did a sketch were John Cleese is upper class, Ronnie Barker is middle class and Ronnie Corbett is working class it’s hilarious you should watch it, years later The Two Ronnies redid the sketch with Stephen Fry but slightly different to the one with John Cleese.
This was voted on of the bets of the Two Ronnies sketches ever. When they did a series of shows some years later showing highlights of their career this was left till last. Ronnie Barker (the big guy) said he was nevr satisfied with the ending and later thought of a better one with a girl taking over to serve him and asking 'What kind of knockers do you want' (knockers slang for breasts)
Because of the multiplicity of accents, wordplay in British humour is rife. You'll get there. I can't wait until you try pickled eggs and wallys with a battered sausage when you come over and hit the chippy.
In a village, a shop can be your post office, your grocery store, your library, your council office, your doctors surgery and whatever else they could fit in the space. But the only trouble was, they didn't open till around 9 or 10 am. They would shut for lunch, open around 1 or 2pm and close around 5pm. They didn't have a lot of each item and you had to get what you could because once 5pm came, that was it till the next day. Plus they might not open on Sundays, so you definitely had to make sure you were topped up. My parent's weren't bakers, but both were good at making home made bread and cakes. I also remember my parents had dried, powder milk in their hot drinks, so we could have the fresh milk for cereal.
The Two Ronnies (Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker) are national treasures. Ronnie Barker, who played the customer, used to submit sketches for the show under a fake name because he wanted them judged on the merits of the comedy and not who wrote it.
'POOP PUMPS'??? XD Haha love the reaction! This sketch is tough enough to follow for Englishmen like myself the first time around, let alone the accent barrier XD You did great! Four Candles = Fork Handles BillHooks = ... the Shopkeep thought he meant 'Bollocks' ;)
2 года назад
Ronnie Barker is *very* much for speaking. Only sometimes he has trouble saying his worms correctly.
There is an updated version of this called "I've got a problem with my Apple" with just the one Ronnie and you will understand the references in the sketch. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kAG39jKi0lI.html
Ronnie Corbett and Harry Enfield did an similar sketch one a few years ago in a grocers shop “my blackberry isn’t working” 😊 pumps as in plimsolls shoes
The Two Ronnie's were comedy geniuses, you should definitely look into reacting to more of their sketches. You should also do the updated version on "Four Candles" called "My Blackberry is Frozen"
The 2 Ronnies presented a show skits and sketches, each standing alone (apart from when they ran a weekly story like The Old Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town or The Worm That Turned. This sketch plays on how when combined together, words can sound very different - Fork Handles (drop the H as happens {or as 'appens} a lot in some dialects) and it becomes Four Candles. As for Bill Hooks - it is intended to sound like "bollocks" (gentleman's dangly bits) and a common low grade swearword
Four candles = Fork Handles Plugs = not for the sink but a 13amp electric plug Saw Tips = Sore Tips 'O's = Hoes (a garden implement), or Hose 'P's = Tins (or cans) of Peas Pumps = Foot pumps (as you said for inflating a car/bike tyre) Bill Hooks = Bollocks (slang for testicles) 'Having me on' means, as you said, 'pulling my leg' Now go watch again and see if you pick more up. This is one of the best comedy sketches ever.
I have no idea how many times I've watched this sketch now. Must be close to a hundred and it doesn't get any less funny. For us in the UK, pumps are gym shoes. Typically, back in the 80s, we had black slip on pumps in primary school. Deck shoes are also called pumps these days. American pumps I think are what we call high heels or stilettos.
Your comment on the general stores reminded me of some years ago when I was teaching in a rural area in NZ the local shop, which sold everything from shotgun shells to ice cream, still had a huge roll of brown paper on a roller on the bench with a string dispenser over head. Our groceries were wrapped and neatly tied up in an elegant parcel by the old store owner in a way that showed he'd been doing this for many decades. A real window to the past.
We still have shops similar to this in UK general hardware they sell everything, it’s very hard for AMERICANS ( I’ve watched Americans reaction to British comedy and most go over their heads ) to understand this very British play on words and references Oh and pumps are plimsolls ( similar to trainers) , You have to keep watching and you’ll get more used to it , this sketch to any Brit is regarded as a classic,👍🤪🤪🤪🎄.
The final "Billhooks" was most likely "pillock" meaning a stupid person. In some version of the video they explain at the end that they weren't particularly happy with that joke.
Pumps was a colloquialism for sports footwear, depending where you are in the UK. I think 'sneaker' is the closest US term. It depended where in the country you were. We used to call them 'sand shoes' but also known as daps, plimsoles, galoshes or gym shoes, and probably some others. I believe the British military called them road slappers.
This is about 45 years old. The two Ronnie's (now only one) were a wholesome comedy duo, and they are amazing. I think if you look into them, you'll find them funny. This, sadly, was a joke based on wordplay, and as such is a bad first sketch. We have "corner shops" that sell everything. In the states, a close comparison is a "bodega". These jokes reply on phonetics. "Pumps" are another name for plimsolls, AKA deck shoes. "Having me on"; aka "ripping the piss"; or "taking the mick" (mickey); or "having a laugh". All these phrases mean "having fun at my expense" "Billhooks" is phonetically similar to "bollocks" This is another word for testicles, or "lies" He thought the whole shopping list was "bollocks" or a joke at his expense.
You should definitely watch more Two Ronnies. Their sketches often revolve around miscommunication. I showed this to a group of my students from the Philippines and it took a while for them to get it but after a few viewings they became fans. The larger man Ronnie Barker wrote the sketches and admitted the end was a bit weak. There is a pub in Oxford called the Four Candles in his honour as he grew up there.
Noticed the stamps on the envelope. Did you know postage stamps were invented in Britain? That’s why the name of the country of origin is on the stamps of every country in the world - except Britain. When they were first used there were no other countries using stamps. The same applies to certain sports tournaments. Golf for instance. In America you have the US Open - meaning open to players from all countries. But in Britain we just have “The Open”. When golf was forming in Britain there were no other countries playing it. That sort of things apply to many things. The English (in particular) invented the modern world.
Pumps is a name given to canvas/fabric gym shoes, sometimes slip-on, sometimes lace up. They have different names in different parts of the country - hence pumps, plimsolls, sannies (sand shoes) p.e. shoes (physical education) etc. The white lace up variety are usually called tennis shoes.
We used to have a store in 70's East Dulwich (London) like this, you name it old man Pullen had it, quite often in cardboard boxes, he'd strip old appliances for parts,you could get a left handed thingymagig or one of "these" or "one of them but a bit bigger"
Ronnie Barker, the larger Gent, is a pure master of wordplay. He was a comedy genius. His ability to effortlessly bend and change the language, it's words, and, it's meanings has never been replicated. I really urge you to look up some more of "The 2 Ronnies". There's one bit that he does where he is speaking on behalf of the 'mispronunciation society'....... The skit is only a few minutes long but he must squeeze in over a hundred puns and 'spoonerisms'. It is comedic wordplay on the highest level. If you were recreate that bit you'd have to learn it for months and months to get it right and mispronounce the words like he does. But Ronnie does it in one long take with no blunders, no pauses, no smile. He does the whole thing off memory like he is just saying a normal sentence. For exemple he doesn't call it the 'mispronunciation society'. He calls it the 'Pissmanuntiation society".. Every sentence contains at least 2 words that are said incorrectly like that... No one, and I mean no one has ever come close to doing with words what Ronnie Barker could do.
It’s British word play, something many Americans probably wouldn’t get because our language has evolved so differently. Shame really, because it’s very funny.
Either, you picked the wrong clip of ‘Four Candles’, or you stopped it prematurely, as Americans viewing it often do. If you view the clip again let it run past the actual performance. Hopefully, it will then show the Two Ronnies, much older, sat at a desk and they explain that they did not like the ending, but ultimately thought of a better one which they performed on another occasion. The point of the sketch was to demonstrate how the English Language has the potential for confusion and misinterpretation when different items, although spelt differently, can sometimes sound similar if enunciated badly. (“0’s”. hoe’s, Hose etc.)
The clip where Ronnie B explained he didn't like the ending was when they did the compilation best of shows just before Ronnie B died. Can't remember the actual title though.
Garden fork. British plugs have integral fuses, so they are rated by amps. 'mOn repOse' 'O's. Yup, general stores carried pretty much anything and everything. 'Pump' is a general name for gym-shoes. 'Bill Hooks' - 'Bollocks' a pun.
I’m British and I get every word. My daughter is American from Ohio and does not get a word of it. It’s all down to a Nations and cultural names for the items, regional accents and slang.
Just to clarify. Pumps in the UK are a type of trainer. Not women's heels. Ronnie Barker did say later. He was really happy with this ending. When they did the sketch at the London Palladium. Ronnie Barker thought of a better ending. Instead of Ronnie Corbett calling out a male assistant to ask how many billhooks he wanted. The other ending had Ronnie Corbett call out a buxom female assistant. She then asked "what sort of knockers are you looking for?"
Pumps are what you wear on your feet for doing sport ie in the gym at school. They speak with the south West accent to make the sketch work. It's a classic sketch. It's a shame you don't understand some of the words meanings.
Churchill was also a newspaper correspondent and historian, who wrote 43 books in 72 volumes. He came from "landed gentry" and had famous ancestors, but the family had little money left. So he had to support himself by writing.
I think one of the things that makes this sketch so good, other than the wordplay (which will obviously be difficult for those who don't understand the terms), is the acting of Ronnie Corbett as the ever more exasperated shopkeeper.
The joke was on you two this time. As Ethan said even if you just watch this again perhaps the words will ring bells or become more obvious. If you catch my drift.
Yeah, here in England there's quite a few small towns all over the map. Even now there's what is called a 'General Store' in most small towns and villages. But with major supermarkets opening up on the outskirts of these little towns it might be the end for the little community General store. But the older generation without a car often rely on these shops. They can get a pint of milk, bread, a news paper, maybe some toilet roll or a lightbulb. Perhaps a fuse has blown in their toaster, or their grandson has a puncture in his bicycle tyre. You can get all those things in a little General Store.
CDs should play universally. Back in the day the world was split into regions for DVDs and I think USA was region 1 and UK was region 2. The reason for this was because quite often a film would come out in America 6 months or more before it came out in the UK. Being formatted slightly differently meant that someone in the UK could not get hold of an American region 1 disk and play it on their region 2 player. Sometimes the two regions would have different extras on them. Eventually DVD player manufacturers started making machines that could play disks from all regions and then DVDs started being released in all regions at the same time so it is no longer a problem. That is why Blu Ray disks play in all regions.
The last item on the list was supposed to read like bollocks to the first shopkeeper but meant bill hooks. This clip is usually followed by a alternative last joke explained by ronnie barker
