Use
Truce terms are recorded as having been used in the following circumstances; 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. It does not mean to surrender, although it may sometimes be used in preparation to surrendering. Truce terms are only used within a specific age group, have little currency outside that group and are by and large abandoned by the age of 10 or 11 years. However, research into early recorded use of these terms found examples of some of these terms being used as a sign of surrender in battle or adult fights or quarrels as late as the 18th century.
The vocabulary of children's games, including truce terms, is described by sociolinguist Peter Trudgill in Dialects of England as being particularly rich in regional variation insofar as they are not based on official or television culture. They are an example of the subculture of young children which is transmitted by word of mouth.
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