The Archers: Tally-Ho for the Hunt Ball! Will Justin return from Scotland with the Gay Gordons? Will Adam feel a right Charlie? Discussion #81

[DadDadDad]

Thanks, R4, for the title (again!).

I'm your temporary host while PseudoBadger is on her sabbatical / prison term / secret mission.

Old hands and complete newbies all welcome.

Spoilers (eg Radio Times descriptions of future programmes) not welcome.

When will Matt reappear? Before / during / after the wedding?

The floor is yours...

Lass

That's me. Never knowingly undersnobbed.

I wonder if the SWs perpetrate all these language oddities in order to appeal to the younger demographic towards whom they're always supposed to be reaching out. Or whether they just don't 'know' ...

Either that, or they put them in as little sweeties for boring old farts like me to pounce on.........

Funnily enough, a mum dropping off her daughter yesterday for a play date was making small talk to me about going off shopping to help buy her husband a DJ. (This mum is a vet too!)

I think it would have been odd if she said tuxedo, like a teenager who's watched too much American TV.

It's funny because it didn't jar with me at all and thinking about it - as a kid we were expats with lots of Americans so we probably used the term tux then. I can't even think what my dad would call it.

Can't say it's something that's worn very often in our house any more! I think Dh has only had to dust his down for the odd wedding

Good point about tux/DJ, it's a class indicator isn't it? I reckon the likes of Emma, Ed, Fallon, maybe Harrison, Nic would say "Tux" as they are only likely ever to have had cause to think about them in the context of american TV about proms or a school prom where all the teens are influenced by American culture. After all British people rarely wear black tie to weddings.

Whereas Shula and Alastair would definitely say "DJ" or "black tie" if talking about the whole outfit. This makes me sound very snobbish but I went to Cambridge where there were a lot of black tie events and nobody from that social group would ever say tux (unless an actual American).

I missed the tux comment.

But that's an appalling faux pas by the scriptwriters. It's DJ or dinner jacket. Or black tie if you are taking about the whole suit ('Have you seen my black tie?'), dinner suit is a bit naff ...

Can't say it's something that's worn very often in our house any more! I think DH has only had to dust his down for the odd wedding

That's the problem. Most DJ only come out once a year and are never given a thought beyond "I hope it still fits". It's the endless mentioning that is jarring, quite beside calling it the wrong name.
It's funny that we haven't heard a word about what Shula is wearing.

JessieMcJessie

That is a fair point. Men like Alastair would have acquired a dj at their first year at university, if they didn't already have one. You didn't need to be at Oxford/Cambridge - Aberdeen where I was had black tie events. I would say dinner jacket/DJ.

That's the problem. Most DJ only come out once a year and are never given a thought beyond "I hope it still fits".

This is really puzzling.My husband on average probably wears his a couple of times a year- sometimes more sometimes less.

Like Alastair he is in the demographic of men who are expected to own black tie. We don't spend weeks wittering on about it before the event. Wearing it is an occasional but perfectly normal and routine thing.

We don't spend weeks wittering on about it before the event.

Quite. All the men wear the same penguin suit so nobody notices/cares what they wear. The spotlight will not be on him and I'm not sure why Shula thinks it will be. If she wants him to impress then the answer is not a new DJ; the sure-fire method is to get lots of drinks in!

And there is no way either Alaisdair or Lillian would talk about a "tux"

This has been annoying me - quite irrationally so.

Matt has always been plain nasty and vindictive, with a veneer of dodgy geezer to make him less loathsome. I think they soft pedaled the nasty aspects and played up the dodgy aspects when he was with Lilian but the nastiness has always been there

Like Alastair he is in the demographic of men who are expected to own black tie

Yes mine too and I'm really struggling to understand caring about this, beyond 'does it still fit'. Its a uniform (unless of course it was bought at a time of dodgy fashion sense, in which case I might care )

Matt has always been plain nasty and vindictive, with a veneer of dodgy geezer to make him less loathsome. I think they soft pedaled the nasty aspects and played up the dodgy aspects when he was with Lilian but the nastiness has always been there"

Just think of the way he treated Amside tenants! And he stole all Lillian's money. I canR't get over the was that's just been forgotten, seemingly, by everyone except Adam.

The tide is turning. I knew it was only a matter of time before I converted people to teamJustin.

it was only a matter of time before I converted people to teamJustin.

Oh I don't like Justin either, I just dislike Matt more. I was thinking also of the lengths Matt went to to conceal assets from his first wife. I guess at least Justin sat down and negotiated.

Justin's a snake. There is something very dodgy indeed going on there. Lillian will end up with no house and no business unless she is very very careful. Actually, I can't decide who I loathe most, Matt, Justin or Lillian.

Whilst not condoning concealing assets during a divorce, I can understand being not especially nice to your S2BXW. However, trying to get one over on your S2B-in-laws is disgraceful. One is ruining a relationship that has already run its course; the other is souring a relationship before it has even started!

I am neither TeamMatt not TeamJustin. Nor TeamLilian, come to that.

I don't really understand why I like Lillian, I know I shouldn't but there is something about her, a sense of kindness I suppose which makes me forgive her a lot.

In fact I don't think I like anyone in the Archers at the moment. I used to like David, but I've just listened to an interview with Tim Bentink and I now have an irrational hatred of him.

I like Usha, and Emma mostly. And Pat. I identify with Pat.

I quite like Lillian but also don't really know why. I would cheerfully see both Matt and Justin disappear to god-knows-where.

I also like Elizabeth for all her faults. I am in a very small fan club :-)

I have always disliked David. Partly its dislike of the character - he was the indulged future-of-brookfield and treated Ruth like crap over a prolonged period. Everything in David's world always seemed to be all about him.

I've also heard him interviewed/punting his latest book/bit of software etc on the media and every time he irritates the hell out of me which I transfer to my dislike of the character.

Tbh I didn't want Matt to come back although I was sad to see him leave. The way he left there should have been no possibility of lil forgiving him.

I used to like David until I heard TB being interviewed. He has such a disdain for his character that it took the shine off. It sounded as if TB only suffered doing David because it was bread-and-butter work but he would much rather be off doing other thespy, show-bizzy stuff.
It feels as if he thinks TA is a bit below him and his talents.
He'd rather be with the cool kids.

I missed tux too. But then l am mainlining episodes of The West Wing just now so am probably inured to Americanisms. Sometimes though l do chuck them in just to annoy my husband!

It's funny that we haven't heard a word about what Shula is wearing.

Some of us have much to say, behind closed doors, on the wardrobe martyrdom of the English gentlewoman ...