Archers thread #196: Run, Rex, run! 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'd like to marry Pip, 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 https://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.)

So now we know who bonked George on the head. Will the stunning revelation lead to anything interesting or credible happening? Answers on a postcard, please!

Will Alice and Rex become an item? Will Amber come to her senses? Has Adam's constant languor and fatigue now removed his ability to speak on air?

Over to you!

We heard Brad and Amber talking in the new year confirming baby is definitely not Brad's as they only kissed. But I think baby number 2 will be a Horrobin.

I'm not fully au fait with the many and varied ways the bloody English oppress everyone else

Let me help you out then. The "bloody" English don't oppress "everyone." Apologise if you want to but don't lose perspective.
_
draws line under the matter cos it's utterly bonkers.

The bit that I find ominous, is it's the second time recently that George has had a near miss with a car. Is something to do with Markey? Is one of Markey's minions still under arrest?

Sinittaadancers
Did that scene ever actually happen or are the SWs hallucinating previous storylines again?

Surprisingly, David, Eddie and Will "wetting the baby's head" in the cider shed did happen, against Will's wishes because he wanted to stay with Emma and George.

Presumably the “drunk bloke with a £10k missing watch” SL was just a massive red herring and nothing to do with Alice’s former boyfriend.

To my ear, both Alice and Chris seem to act better with new partners.

I’m puzzled by the speeding car second near miss but, again, it probably means nothing.

Speeding car on NYE, another speeding car last night, a speedwatch campaign - surely this all has to be leading somewhere? (Yes, I know.)

you know that the French generally don’t pronounce a hard T, or a hard J, and the Spanish LL is pronounced as a Y, so there are a few differences

But if you can learn these ‘rules’ why can’t you learn the Irish ones?

Aoi in Irish sounds quite like ee in English. Aoife is quite popular in the UK and that’s Ee-feh.

Bh or mh sound quite like an English v
(as in Siobhán, for example, or the Scottish Mhairi pronounced Varee).

C-ee-va isn’t so complicated 😁

AAAggghhh!

You've spelt that wrong.

Need the laughing emoji back!

😁

Such touching faith 😆

Squish the Snell! Please.

Lynda's knell?

I think the main reason for not knowing anything about how to pronounce or have a go at pronouncing Irish names is that it simply doesn't come up in British education. Most school pupils learn some French, possibly Spanish too or Italian or German. Lots of people go to adult education classes to learn those foreign languages.

But I think the likelihood of any schoolchild not in Ireland learning any Irish is almost certain to be zero, and I've never heard of it being offered as adult education classes. So unlike the languages you mentioned most people in Britain don't have any idea how to even start to imagine how to pronounce Irish, I include myself in that group.

I've lived in Wales almost all my life and know about 4 Welsh words, but I do know it's a language where all the letters are pronounced, there are some diphthongs which are pronounced in a certain way but someone totally unfamiliar with it could have a go.

But Irish spellings seem to rarely match the pronunciation, in fact they often seem to be miles away, so it can be almost impossible to attempt to spell a name if you've only heard it spoken and vice versa.

Disclaimer: not about current SL

@SPQRomanus , the Welsh diphthongs and some letters are almost impossible unless you are good at languages. They don't have 'English' equivalents.
I can usually tell if someone is mother tongue or if they learnt it in secondary school or older - it's usually the diphthongs and the letter R that gives the game away. There's no shwa like you get in unstressed syllables in English, which is probably why the way Seren's name gets said by Tom seems slightly forced.

The Amber's DF actor learnt Welsh, I think, as an adult (he learnt it because of his now wife being Welsh), and he sounds completely Welsh when he speaks it.

This series of videos is good.

someone totally unfamiliar with it could have a go. It usually sounds awful and often unrecognisable.
Kenton ended up in Machynlleth and poked fun at the name.

If anyone is curious, CH is like in Scottish loch, LL is like the ch in German milch, TH is like in thing or thong. In this name the a is 'ah', e is 'eh', y is 'uh'
Mach-UN-lleth. [maˈχənɬɛθ]

someone totally unfamiliar with it could have a go.

Had a conversation with a colleague today, who was talking about Llangollen, pronounced with English Ls, not the Welsh LL (different again from the Spanish LL.) To be fair, he had a go...

Has anyone seen Blue Lights? I’m wondering if I have a treat in store?

It’s good! 😄

But I’d love to know what has prompted this SW’s almost obsessive reference to it this week. Can’t be bothered to look up whether they wrote for it, or have a sibling acting in it, or a partner with production credits, or whether the BBC in its wisdom is (cover your eyes!) planning a Corriedale in Ambridge …

https://www.justwatch.com/uk/tv-series/blue-lights

I have. It's about police in Northern Ireland. It's very good

@EBearhug , He didn't, he read it as it looks to him.

About the same as if he had said Kirkcudbright as Kirk-cud-bright, Lough Neagh as Luff Near (non-rhotic), or Worcester as Worce-cester.

@OrphanBlankly , same here.

Blue Lights is really good.

Maybe they wanted to portray Kirsty and Kate as normal 40-somethings who watch tv, and wanted to not say Netflix.
They hardly watch telly in Ambridge, apart from Poppy watched Peppa Pig, and Fat Rosie and Jill sat on the sofa watching films and eating millionaire shortbread.

Thanks for the recommendations - sounds like I have a treat in store, I love a good police drama!

Well, yes, but I'd have thought most British adults would know a Welsh ll is different, even if they pronounce it as cl or similar.

Having said that, my colleagues have been astounding me with their low levels of general knowledge lately, so perhaps I just need to readjust my expectations downwards. And find a new job.