When I was at primary school (during the time when dinosaurs and dodos still roamed the Earth with permed hair and leg-warmers, watching Betamax videos and snacking on crunchy glaciers) we had, as all generations do, a set of slang expressions specific to our era.

One of these was “rort!”. This was shouted whenever two boys — and they were almost always boys — got into a fight on the playground. Everyone would gather round to watch the resulting dust-up, and those on the outskirts would be tasked with shouting “chips!” if a teacher or a prefect appeared in the vicinity of the skirmish. ..