Bit off the topic, but the piece you linked to made me think... it said...
"now teenagers, do not seem to have had words of truce for use in games, perhaps due to the influence of television. When I was at St John’s School in the 1950’s, the formula was to stand with fingers crossed and say ‘Krees’ "
In the North East we used to say 'skingies' (pronounced skin-jeez) or injected (you were 'injected' against the 'tig' thing)
Soz for changing topic
Moey