Painterly worn cowboy hat beside a wine glass and clear bottle on dusty pink ground.

Original artwork, not a still

Arnold Rimmer

I've seen Westerns, I know how to speak cowboy. (to bartender) Dry white wine and Perrier please. And what about you two chaps?

— Red Dwarf · 1988

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker boasts that watching Westerns has taught him cowboy language, then immediately undercuts himself with a refined drink order and the word 'chaps'. The joke rests on the gap between his confident claim and the very different manner his own words reveal.

Context reviewed

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