Dialogue

Hello,

Man A: Try pronouncing the word 'a-i-r'. Man B: Air. Man A: Good. Now try pronouncing the word 'h-a-i-r'. Man B: Hair. Man A: Excellent. Now try the word 'l-a-i-r'. Man B: Lair. Man A: Splendid. Now put them together and what have you got? Man B: Air, hair, lair. Man A: Welcome to Sandhurst.

Do you get the joke?

Source: Taylor, A (2006). A plum in your mouth.

Englishuser

 

Oh, hello!

It's demonstrating a particularly exaggerated mode of speech:  Air = Ah/Oh;  Hair Lair = He llo.  Sloane Rangers characteristally spoke this way, with an affected,  strangulated and slightly nasal pronunciation. Sometimes also described as the Oxford accent.

It's a sideways insult for Sandhurst as being the place that the brainless upperclass nitwit ends up.

That was a funny joke!

But you would have to be familiar with these people and this way of speaking to understand it. Yes Marvin, there are (a few) people who can say oh hello to sound like air hair lair. It's an accent people make fun of.

Is Sanhurst the military academy for officers, though? (Isn't that were Harry and William went? I should read People magazine more carefully.)