Fainites and barley

On World Wide Words Michael Quinion discusses truce terms. These are words used by schoolchildren to justify temporary exclusion from a chasing game for reasons such as being out of breath, having a stitch, a shoelace being undone, fear of clothes being damaged, needing to go to the lavatory, checking the time, wanting to discuss or clarify rules during a fight or game, or one combatant wanting to remove their spectacles or jacket before continuing. Use of a truce term does not imply surrender and the user is usually expected to return to the game as soon as possible.

He looks at the word fainites (also faynits, or fains), which is such a truce term. When I was at school in Merseyside, barley was the word that we used, possibly deriving from parley. At university I met people who said fainites, which was quite unintelligible to me – just as my use of barley was to them when we discussed the matter. Later, when I was studying for a teaching qualification, I read a book called The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren by Iona and Peter Opie, in which they mapped the boundaries of these two words and others. I no longer have the book and can find no map of just where the boundary lies, though barley is more northern and fainites more southern. Wikipedia has an article on truce terms.

For a discussion of barley and other cereals as countable or uncountable nouns, click here.

Comments

[Nemesis Looms]

Peter, I remember making the ( occasionally painful ) change from 'fainites' to 'barley' as a six-year-old moving from London to Liverpool in the 50's. My mother maintained that it was properly 'fey knights' and had something to do with chivalry. I do recall that once you had said it, at least in my London playground, your status was 'fey'.

[Peter Harvey]

Thanks Alan. I can see that such a change would be hard but somehow 'fey' is not a word I would ever have associated with you.

[Alan Booth]

Well, I didn't say it often ....