A popular word used by children in the past when wanting a time out in games was said to be “barley”.

This allowed play to pause while the youngster fastened his shoe or went to the loo.

But my suggestion that it might have been rooted in even older history by knights in battle or tournament was questioned by reader Dave Heaton, of Lindley.

“I would doubt any self-respecting knight in shining armour would have cried ‘barley’ when seeking respite in battle or joust.

“Being of French descent the cry would more likely have been ‘parlez’ – French for talk, ie) let’s stop fighting and talk? Something sadly lacking in today`s many conflicts worldwide?

“I could of course be way off the mark and ‘barley’ could be the Moldgreen version the old French.”

I suggested to Dave that a Moldgreen knight’s version would probably have been: “Nah then, lad. How about we stop for a pint?”

As regards its historical context, I quote Wikipedia: “The use of barley as a truce term appears in the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Tobias Smollett’s Reprisal.”

John, another reader, meanwhile offers a different word entirely.

“I grew up in Salendine Nook in the 1960s and the word we used to call a truce in a game or when play fighting or even real fighting was ‘keys’. No idea where it came from.”

Does anybody else?