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!

I think the reason Will remained in Ambridge while his family was in Meadow Rise for three months was that he had an all-hours job in the village, unlike anyone else in his family. Ed was at school near Meadow Rise, Ed and Joe were essentially unemployed or doing occasional odd jobs, and Clarrie only worked during the day, whereas a gamekeeper needs to be available in the middle of the night quite often.

It was lucky Will him that his godmother had room for him in the house she owned, but I suspect if she hadn't, he'd have had to find somewhere in Ambridge to live if he was to keep his job.

Ooh so Rob will feature in some way tomorrow at the County Show! Will we hear the encounter or will it be off Mike and reported afterwards? I hope we get fireworks!

Surely at her age, no-one would consider Lynda as an employee? Bit strange. And here was my naively thinking discrimination on grounds of age was mo longer legal

@emsiewill yes, I picked and on the Ploughman’s Panini. And thought Lynda would be one of those recognising Panini as a plural.

@PedantScorner Do you scorn pedants or are you a pedant who scorns?

I can see Portmadoc as an Anglicisation of Porthmadog but Hay-on-Wye is just a completely different name.

I’m still trying to work out how anyone pronounces Natasha with anything other than two short a’s. Xander I can see, but again it’d not be something that it’d occur to me to do. I generally speak RP, but I do have influence from my Lancashire family.

That was silly, wasn’t it? Oliver and Adil talking about “the meeting with the owners”. The only way you’d do that in real life is if the owners were too numerous to mention by name

@MereDintofPandiculation , I just thought it was a good username.
I picked Hay because the Welsh name seems so wildly different. I think it means something like The Shattered Copse. I was trying to think of somewhere with a just slightly different name. Ruthin (Rhuthun) is one, but the English name isn't said how it looks. I think Dolgellau might have been anglicised to Dolgelley and Llanelli to Llanelly in the past, which seems to have been no help. The Welsh place names seem to be getting reinstated.

I think the Russian Natasha has a slightly longer ah sound, but nothing like the one in Xander when Adam says it. I'd expect Eddie could manage to say it as Nartarsher .

Well, what will happen at the County Show?

PedantScorner
I picked Hay because the Welsh name seems so wildly different.

Usk is Brynbuga in Welsh, for what that is worth. I don't think anyone really knows for sure what the buga bit means, though Bryn is obvious.

I was trying to think of somewhere with a just slightly different name Casnewydd? Conwy?

Ruthin (Rhuthun) is one, but the English name isn't said how it looks. How is Ruthin pronounced then? I always assumed Rue Thin. just like it looks. But google suggests that US, and English pronounciation is to rhyme with Rush In, with Welsh sounding more like Rith In.

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime , At a guess, I'd say Buga is a name, but no idea of what - some mythological giant or something or someone, maybe. The river is Wysg. Bryn is hill. Is there a hill there?

@MereDintofPandiculation , Casnewydd is Newport, but the name translates literally as Newcastle. Conway fell out of use ages ago, but that's a good one, and it definitely has a castle.
There are some places nearer the border where I'm not sure if the name was an English name welshified or the other way around. Places like Bradle/Bradley, Y Fflint/Flint and Sychdyn (Soughton?).
Ruthin is 'Rithin', but Rhuthun is RHithin. Rh is not R+h but it's said like saying R and H at the same time. There is a Ruthin Castle but it's not worth seeking out as there's not much left.

Are there any castles in Borsetshire?

Is it me or did Helen refer to her staff as “Clarrie and SUSIE” yesterday? I don’t think Susan would like that at. all.

I thought Helen was supposed to be doing a shit job at work because she was so “distracted”, I presumed distracted by worrying about her kids. But clearly she doesn’t give two hoots where her kids end up. So what on Earth is she busy thinking about?

Also found it TOTALLY unbelievable that Helen forgot when the county show was on and that Henry doesn’t seem familiar with what would be there. It would surely be as much a fixture with his family - or Tony at least - as with the Grundies.

I think the pronunciation/mispronunciation of Adil’s name is exactly what you’d expect and entirely true to life. I would expect Lynda to have a decent stab at it since she always makes a point of pronouncing any foreign words as authentically as possible without any anglicisation. Most people don’t bother. It’s not just Brits - it took me a while to work out that the marvelous actor Tommonk that everyone was talking about here in France was in fact Tom Hanks.

I heard Helen say Susie too and wondered who she was talking about for a moment.

I heard that too @CaptainMyCaptain
Very jarring.

@LillianGish I thought that was odd too. The annual County Agricultural Show was a massive part of the calendar for all farming and country families when I was growing up.

If nothing else I would expect the Bridge Farm cheese business to have a stand in the food tent and I am sire Natasha would be all over the opportunities to promote her and Tom's business.

Pip slurp breathing in more times than I could count last night makes me want to grab Pat’s gun.

I heard ‘Susie’ as well but couldn’t rewind as I was listening in the car. Has anyone ever called Susan Susie?

YES @BeardieWeirdie exactly this!! Also made her sound like she was frantically gulping down the vino 🤣🙈

It’s not just Brits - it took me a while to work out that the marvelous actor Tommonk that everyone was talking about here in France was in fact Tom Hanks

that's so funny, it feels weird talking in German about some actors or English language things with Germans, especially if they don't speak excellent English. It feels really weird to Germanify the pronunciation of things just so they understand.

I just went back and listened to Adil's arrival scene last year, when he first pronounced his own name. It’s very close to this, except that he doesn’t put as much noticeable stress on the 'dil'.

How to pronounce Adil

I think the pronunciation/mispronunciation of Adil’s name is exactly what you’d expect and entirely true to life

Absolutely. Which is another reason the perfect pronunciation of Seren by everyone stuck out. I wonder why there's been such a difference in how the production team have dealt with the two names.

Why were they all drinking mocktails last night? Usually Pip is keen to down two bottles of cheap red in a session so I was surprised at her restraint! Ben is presumably still on meds so not drinking alcohol but Lottie doesn’t strike me as a mocktail kind of girl either.

Helen seems to have gone from over-vigilant to over-relaxed in the space of a week. She okayed Henry’s trip to the show without batting an eyelid.

isn't that because Gnasher corrects, fervently and every time, anyone who dare mispronounce the name?

I couldn’t figure out the timings. The episode opened with Pip/Ben/Lottie which sounded like a night out, then went to Henry/George/Helen which sounded like a daytime thing. I’m sure it doesn’t matter, but I found it odd.

So Ron is still well enough to travel to the Country show. Whatever happens, Helen is going to blame the Grundy’s for failing to look after Henry. I’m surprised 18 year old surly George is interested in a family day out with his grandparents and little sister.