The Archers #96: Is that a rat I smell or the whiff of Snell? In Chaucer’s famous Tale of Two Torsos, Brian’s ‘still got it’ and Poldark is searching for scything opportunities in Susan’s kitchen.

[NotdeadyetBOING]

Welcome..... I'd concocted a longer title with all sorts of references to bitch stitching and pasta bakes, but was thwarted by the pesky character limit

I would think so. I grew up on a large mixed farm, and we had barns for straw bales, for grain, for beef cattle, for calves, for farm machinery... plus other outbuildings which wouldn't count as a barn, but more cow sheds and so on. I don't think Brookfield is as big as the farm I grew up on, but they still have hay, straw, grain, machinery, lambing and so on to deal with.

@Puddock, there are obviously particular characters' verbal tics (e.g. Joe's insistence on calling everyone by their full name and using the word 'Missus' much more than you'd think feasible), but if we're talking about general phrases used by a number of characters, all I can think of it's that the fact there's no real swearing leads to an implausibly high prevalence of swear-lite phrases e.g. 'blooming heck'.

I was going to add that, to my ears, an improbably high proportion of characters say 'ta' instead of thanks/thank you, which in my normal circle is very much a minority option. But I realised that the few people I know from the Midlands are more inclined to say it, so it may be correct that it's the accepted Borsetshire term. And it does seem to be the more working class characters (Grundys, Carters, Tuckers) who go for it, so possibly it's accurate.

I also thought that Brookfield had several barns. I'm sure when they've been discussing stuff like Open Farm Sunday, storing Josh's machinery etc. multiple barns have been mentioned.

Just going back to the Topher thing, if anyone's read ' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius', the young brother is called 'Toph' and I've heard Dave Eggers in interviews pronouncing it to rhyme with 'loaf'...

As you were

Newbie to this thread though long time listener to the Archers (omnibus edition) "Stitch and Bitch" is horrible, much prefer Knit and Natter

“Going to the supermarket” instead of “to Tesco/Sainsbury’s/Asda” etc but the above-mentioned “hello you two” is the all-time classic.

puddock, the one that makes me grit my teeth is "Don't be silly" when offering to help someone. Loads of characters, mostly women, say it and it's just so rude. Why they can't say "happy to help" or some variant baffles me.

Welcome, Boswellox! I tend to agree with you.

The plot around the barn thickens.

I remember that Toph, 5000. Him, and Topher Brink (from Dollhouse), and a couple of rl ones I know, are all "oaf" not "off", but also all American or Canadian. Interested to hear about the counterexamples.

I want to add "any road", which Harrison and Eddie both say much more often than is plausible. When I think of that phrase, it's always in the voice of someone I knew in my Borsetshire childhood. Don't think I've heard it so much since. I wonder if it's a regional thing?

“I’ll see myself out”
“Help yourself to biscuits”
“I’ll just grab a sandwich later”
“This is going to be the best whatever ever”
“Birthday tea”
And of course if there’s not a change counting scene are you even listening to the Archers?

These are all on my internal ‘archers bingo’ card

Is "any road" (or "any road up") unusual? Perhaps it is a Borsetshire thing and I've never noticed other people not saying it.

Has anyone mentioned the inevitable 'it's what he/she would have wanted'?

And of course the signal that a hug is being bestowed (or forced) on someone: Come here!! Which we heard twice in one scene between Rex and Lily the other day. But that's more a shorthand way of conveying something visual in a medium that's purely aural.

I know a “Toffer” (spelt and pronounced like that).

It took me most of AHWOSG for the penny to drop that Toph was a diminutive of Christopher - I hadn’t come across it before then, and only once since (above mentioned Toffer).

Shuffling back in having been stuck down a tedious work rabbit hole for a while.

I am deeply suspicious of Lee. Unpleasant about his ex and his clients. Do hope they aren't gearing up for another wrong-un storyline for Helen...

And feeling very warm towards Lynda. Wonderfully nuanced character unlike the horror that is Hannah

Just checking in :)

Something bad is going to happen with that Portaloo soon. I wondered if the SWs had forgotten it would need emptying.

I want to add "any road", which Harrison and Eddie both say much more often than is plausible.

It was a common expression when I was growing up in the North West, it was a totally meaningless thing! My Aunt said it regularly at the start of a sentence,eg 'Any road, I'll get off now' 'Any road, I told her to get lost!'.

‘Any road’ was definitely a part of my northern upbringing or ‘ Any road up’ even.

Morphed into the now popular ‘Anyhoo’

Any road just means anyway, doesn’t it, which make sense, as a way of resuming speaking.

I assumed anyhoo was a weird self conscious pronunciation of anyhow.

I agree, any way, any how, etc just fill a pause.

Poor Bess!

It's good that Jill was so nice about Josh getting he chickens killed. Imagine if she'd reacted like David and then this happened?

What an awful family.

I didn’t know raisins were bad for dogs. Do they not have any sense of what is bad for them? witchcat is very careful about what he samples. And horses tend not to eat poisonous plants unless there’s nothing else left.

Does schula have an indoor school? Or would it be unsuitable for the Canterbury Tales?