“Too late, too late the maiden cried, and waved her wooden leg” is the phrase my parents might have used, typically when somebody else said something like, “Oh, they arrived late.” It was said in a mildly amusing way, as a bit of light repartee. They both grew up, my folks, in South Africa in the 1920’s. From reading this thread, it seems that this phrase, and variations, were widely used in the old British Empire and also the US, from about that time. It may reference some popular music hall act or light hearted poem or prose from that era. Nothing very precise or convincing in this thread however. The search continues….