Archers thread #151: A Fête worse than death or a reverse ferret? Helen’s got the Borsetshire Blues, Tom’s talking shiitake, George is a rotten apple. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you think Helen and Tom would do well on Dragons' Den, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks to @OverArmour for various title ideas! I would have liked to incorporate the suggestion from @Fleetress, which was

‘Do do one Ron, Ron, do do one Ron’

(Rob is Ron for many on this thread now)

Possibly a bit obscure for newer posters, though!

Anyway: we got through that last thread in no time at all. Combined effect of Rob and George, I suspect. I wonder if Rob will have made it to Ambridge by the time we need a new thread. I'm still waiting for Pat's shotgun to feature. That can't have been mentioned for the first time ever for no reason at all.

Over to you!

Adam is the same in Arabic and English, and that starts with an alif too.
I don't have an MA in linguistics.

Yes @stilldumdedumming I am a SM too and I can understand an internal eye roll (I've nearly dislocated mine on occasion!) but to say you wouldn't do for your partner what he is doing for you, as she did, stinks... As you say, you'd have a good word with yourself!

And congratulations on impending Grannyhood too 😊

That's the point. He wouldn't from reading it. But from hearing others pronounce it, would he think it does have an "r" sound in it, rhotic or not.

Ooh, what are ayn and alif - I guess they are Arabic letters of the alphabet?

I go to Ireland sometimes. From the signs, which are in 2 languages, I have no idea how to pronounce Gaelic place names, even though they are written in the Latin alphabet.

@SequentialAnalyst , yes they're letters. Alif is a vowel (usually A but sometimes I or U)
Adil is عادل and Adam is آدم. The words read from right to left, and don't have the same starting letters. Transcribed, they are عAdl and Adm. The ع doesn't have a western equivalent.

There is no R in Adil. When he introduced himself, he said it as Aadil, not Ardil.

@harriethoyle thank you. It's not the plan and she's too young by her own admission, but here we are!

... From the signs, which are in 2 languages, I have no idea how to pronounce Gaelic place names, even though they are written in the Latin alphabet.
Gaeilge is phonetic. The difficulty can arise when the place name in English is different to the Gaeilge.

How young it too young?

Yes but the phonetics map differently in English and Gaeilge. And if the names sound the same in both, I can tell from reading the sign and comparing the written versions.

I know there is no r in Adil. But English is notorious for inserting r sounds into words. I'm off to have a barth

There is no R in Adil. When he introduced himself, he said it as Aadil, not Ardil.

it's down to pronunciation and accent though in English. I speak German a lot of the time so if i were describing how to say Adil i'd more likely use a word like Aachen rather than insert one of those rogue "Rs" that plague English.

It's not English though, it's an arabic name transcribed. The use of 'ar' to describe a long 'aah' sound makes no sense to those of us who have a rhotic accent.

It's not like they call Xander Zarnder with two r sounds, or say Natasha as Natarsha. Well, not yet anyway.

Yes but the phonetics map differently in English and Gaeilge. Sorry, you've lost me there.
The name written in 'English' should be phonetic, but it uses Irish rules.

e.g. Clonskeagh isn't an irish name, that's Cluain Sceach, but you say Clonskeagh as Clonskay. The Irish name is often different, and that happens with Scottish and Welsh places too, Portmadoc is Porthmadog, Hay-on-Wye is Y Gelli Gandryll, Hawarden is Penarlâg.
Auchterarder is Uachdar Àrdair, Dundee is Dùn Dèagh.

The shortening Lynda to Lynd struck me as a bit strange. Linda usually gets shortened to Lin.

On the other hand, they do say Lynder and Mi-er.

Yes, and Shuler and Keerer.

Apart from Ruth who says Dayvid Ahtchah

Lynda is Lynda unless it's Robert speaking, in which case it's Lyndie ❤️

Clonskeagh is pronounced Clonskee.

Yes. It is.

It makes me very sad that we'll never hear that again except in archive clips.

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/much-loved-surrey-gp-archers-25524449

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
I know 😢

😢

Yay re Robert.

I think they've been exceedingly ambiguous about Oliver's role and level of responsibility in the current setup.

My 👂 s were alerted by several recent mentions of 😝"the owners". So Hazel's formed some kind of consortium then??

*YY not yay 😞

(Oh and I have no idea where that shudder-type face cam from either)

I generally don’t see the point of Oliver. When GG was first bought out I thought that was a good moment for him to either be written out or be made silent. He could have moved out of the Grange with no fuss and that would have been that. Unfortunately the SWs still seem to think there is mileage in him and he appears in countless SLs - George and the bench; Tracey and the food bank; volunteering at LL etc. He must really irritate Ardil with his shoot-from-the-hip approach to management.

I guess there does always have to be a non-blood-related philanthropist in the mix - to add an element of random good fortune, and the promise or loss of the same.

It’s astonishing how often, in the early years of TA, people looking to make a start in life, were unexpectedly enabled, or even elevated out of their station, by a single act of generosity. More recently, think of Will not having to move to Meadow Rise because his aristocratic godmother offered a flat at the Dower House. Oliver fills that role, to an extent.