The Archers spoilers thread #8: Can't wait for 7.02pm? Join us here!

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Spoilers thread for The Archers. Please keep all spoiler-related discussion in this thread and do not spill the beans on the main Archers Thread. Last spoilers thread here: www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4197199--The-Archers-spoilers-thread-7-Cant-wait-for-7-02pm-Join-us-here

Current main Archers thread here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4887688-archers-thread-153-total-absolute-rubbish-but-we-keep-on-listening-hoping-for-better-things-its-the-hope-that-kills-you-discuss-the-archers-here?latest=1 The main thread tends to last a few weeks. The spoiler thread runs for around a year, but I strongly suspect it gets read about as much as the main thread.

It doesn't to me. If I mean first cousin, I say first cousin, as in "We weren't a small family – I had thirty-six first cousins". Other more distant degrees of relation, as it might be one of my great-uncles' descendants, I just call cousin with.

Cousin means child of an aunt or uncle to me. It's not worth squabbling over.

If you were having a casual conversation involving your cousins, would you seriously say "I met up with Second Cousin John and we had dinner with Third Cousin Mary, First Cousin Twice Removed Jack and Second Cousin Once Removed Jill"? Or would you say "I met Cousin John and we had dinner with my cousins Mary, Jack and Jill"?

I didn't use the word "literally"?

I wasn't squabbling. I made a casual comment about Freddie's cousin.

@ZadocPDederick , we (my kith and kin) tend to not refer to people by first name only, so it would be something like
"I met up with John-Laura's-son, and we had dinner with Mary-from-Newtown, Jack-Sandra's-grandson, and Jill-Stephens"

If I said "I met Cousin John and we had dinner with my cousins Mary, Jack and Jill" I'd be told 'They're not your cousins, they are [long description of how each one is related to me]

I didn't say you used the word 'literally'.

I'd tend to say to another family member that I met firstname secondname, because there are lots of duplicate first names (but often with clarifying abbreviations, so Willie, Bill, Liam and William are clearly themselves, despite all being Williams), but introduce them to a stranger simply as 'this is my cousin firstname'. If it seemed appropriate I might clarify further, but not necessarily.

I used to have 47 first cousins of my own generation, a few have dropped off their perches, but the others have produced an ever widening pool of 1st removeds and 2nd removeds, many of whom I don't know, but they're still my cousins, as are the seconds and thirds.

Now that I’ve taken another look at the spoilers I’m even more confused - as neither of my likely candidates appears to be dedded any time soon. And I didn’t remember to notice Denise in the cast list going forward.

(Tenses all over the place.)

Just heard the doom trailer. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy week. (I don't think it's a spoiler if the BBC itself is putting this trailer out several times a day, but I'm not risking saying this over on the main thread just yet.)

All but four of my many "uncles and aunts" on my dad's side of the family were in fact his uncles and aunts. Of the four, one was his mother, one was his sister (by the same mother, at least) so technically my only aunt in the family, and the other two were his cousins. They were all brought up as siblings, though, by their grandparents, so as not to frighten the horses. Things were further complicated by the eldest two being the product of his mother's - sorry, I mean grandmother's - first marriage.

It's amazing what comes out the woodwork when you look at your family tree, but can you wonder that it's easier to call everyone an aunt, uncle or cousin without going into the detail?

I keep missing the doom trailer!

Am listening to PM atm - maybe it will come after the 6pm news?

Listen live just before 7pm or at 7.15pm. I'd bet the farm they'll play it in one of those spots. (I see I've missed one already. Ah well.)

Gonners
It's amazing what comes out the woodwork when you look at your family tree, but can you wonder that it's easier to call everyone an aunt, uncle or cousin without going into the detail?

Absolutely. In any case, first, second, third and if they even exist fourth cousins are all cousins, and so are cousins once, twice or three times removed. The clue is in the fact that all of these names include the word "cousin".

First cousins are a subset of cousins-in-general.

I still haven't heard the trailer, but my hopes are high now that Bartleby might survive after all.

Unless Alice ploughs into him.

I hope not. Much better if she hits Denise, preferably when she's stopped for a chat with Pip.

Hear hear!

Bartleby can’t die soon enough for my taste. I have nothing in particular against the nag, but I do mind, very much, George having any form of success.

I'd quite like the Society for the Protection of Exploited Equines to come down on They Grundys like a ton of hay and rescue poor Bartleby, who could live out his days in a cheery environment.

I'd like Alice to wipe out Pip, George and Eddie. Looking at the spoilers, I'd say I'm not going to get my wish. Pah.

Are you forgetting Helen? Henry would thank you for it.

Actually, if I gave it a but more thought then I'd probably ... not decimate the population, because that = kill one out of ten. Is there a word for getting shot of half of them? Quintimate?

You are expecting addiction to be logical, @Bruisername

I call my first cousins once removed my cousins (especially as they area similar age to me) just as I do my first cousins. Admittedly I often refer to my older first cousin once removed as my mother's cousin but that's because they are a similar age. My second cousins and I often just say "cousin"

The mention of Henry just made me think - what was the outcome of the drama regarding Henry’s inheritance from Rob? Did Helen tell the boys? I can’t recall.

It was Giddy Jack's inheritance. I can't remember if she told either of them - being Helen, she's quite likely to have told Henry but not Jack!