'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Allison
Date: 28 Aug 22 - 11:40 AM

My mum (born 1952 in Australia) always said, "'Too bad, too sad, too late!' she cried,
as she waved her wooden leg goodbye."

Her father was born in Liverpool, UK, in 1918.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Aug 22 - 09:12 PM

Good to see this old friend of a thread again.

I was interested to see Lighter's find:

"Evening World (N.Y.C.)(June 9 1906), p. 6 [without explanation]:

"'Aha!' she cried, in accents wild,
And waved her wooden leg."

That gives it a date early enough to rule out some of the suggestions. And that other link in the same post is suggestive - I wonder if someone wrote about the unlucky Sally Ann waving her wooden leg after being shot, and they appeared in some local newspaper and launched the passage…

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,AlexM
Date: 12 Aug 22 - 07:18 PM

“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….

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Aug 22 - 06:30 PM

My mom's grandmother used to get carted off to the loony bin in Budapest whenever she started whacking people with her wooden leg, often at the dinner table...

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Alan NZ
Date: 30 Jul 22 - 09:11 AM

Often heard this from my cantankerous English father:

Aha, she cried waving her wooden leg
My love for you will last forever
Like a pinch of snow in a box of sand

Always assumed it’s from an old English drinking song about a madam in a brothel era WW2

Also: It was on the bridge at midnight gazing up at the moon, well she said she’d never had it, but she spoke to bloody soon.

It gets worse so I will stop at that.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Sep 21 - 12:20 PM

My little Sicilian Italian mother in law. Used to exclaim " Ah ha said the man with the wooden leg"......Never knew what it was supposed to mean. If she were still with us she would be 109 yrs old.....so I guess these phrases have been around a very long time

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: Lighter
Date: 13 Sep 21 - 07:58 PM

Evening World (N.Y.C.)(June 9 1906), p. 6 [without explanation]:

"'Aha!' she cried, in accents wild,
And waved her wooden leg."


Chicago Tribune (June 15, 2003),III p. 13:

"'Aha, she said with glee, as she shook her wooden leg at me,' was my father's favorite saying."

Coincidence?:
Evening Post (Charleston, S.C.) (Oct. 17, 1900), p. 5:

"Sarah Richardson, who has one leg, a lemon complexion, and one eye, was shot in her good leg last night by a negro known as 'Black Horse.' ...The shooting occurred on Beaufontain street, in that quarter of the city where red lights and red curtains are in evidence all night long....[W]hen the shot was fired...Sarah Ann fell to the ground and wildly waved her wooden leg...."

The ultimate inspiration for the parodic lines appears to be the poem, "On the Death of Mrs. Blake, who perished with cold in December 1821, on the Green Mountains of Vermont near the town of Arlington," by "Memnon.

Its first known appearance was in the "Eastern Argus" of Portland, Maine, March 12, 1822. The tearful verses were often reprinted in American newspapers during the nineteenth century:

"Oh, God," she cried in accents wild,
"If I must perish, save my child!"

And God does.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 11 Sep 21 - 09:53 PM

My mother was born in 1917. Her version was, “Oh my god, “ she cried, in accents wild and shook her woolen head and wrapped her wooden leg around a lamppost and cried, “Whoopee!”. It occurred to me today and my husband suggested I google it. What a surprise to find this thread! Both of my parents were from western NY. My father was in the army in WW II serving in the Pacific. He used to say, “I see,” said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw. It was a delight to read through so ,many responses from many different sources. Felt like a family sharing of memories.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Sep 21 - 08:46 AM

My mother’s version was, “Not I, she cried, tearing her sea green hair and waving her wooden leg aloft.”

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Susan R
Date: 08 Aug 21 - 11:32 PM

I've been looking for the source of the saying my dad would share whenever someone say Aha! But he said Aha!she cried in accents wild, as she wrapped her wooden leg around the bedpost.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Mar 20 - 09:55 PM

My grandfather had a slightly different version: Ah ha, she cried, as she lifted up her wooden leg...."


On another line mentioned in the string: "I see, he cried, as he picked up his hammer and saw!"

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: Raedwulf
Date: 31 Mar 18 - 01:56 AM

My only addition is that it was never "No answer..." It was always "Silence was the stern reply", which has a bit more rhythm & weight to it, to my ear.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Mar 18 - 09:21 PM

I think that post still leaves the question still unanswered. But it was nice really seeing this old thread pop up again, like an old friend.

I'm tempted to bodge up some passage of verse or prose supplying a source for the quote, and then ensure it gets discovered, maybe in a handwritten note that turns up in some forgotten volume...

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Bob S.
Date: 25 Dec 15 - 08:25 PM

My mother who was born in Wilkes-Barre PA in the last part of the 19th cent.

Used to declaim:

"Who is the father of my child?, she cried in accents wild, as she shook her wooden leg and staggered down the stairs."

I have been trying for years to find out the source.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 15 - 03:03 PM

Mother born in 1928 in Pennsylvania of German family always said when it was very cold... Boo whoo she cried and winked her glass eye and wrapped her wooden leg around the bed post.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Daddy-o's daughter
Date: 27 Jun 15 - 07:20 AM

My Dad always said it as, "And silence was her answer, as she waved her wooden leg." To me, the dance card reference makes the most sense, as a variation on "too late." He was born in upstate Vermont in 1922. He would say it when there was no response, or an unsatisfactory response, to a question asked. I find it interesting that in all these responses, I have not seen the "silence" variation.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: BigDaddy
Date: 17 May 15 - 12:59 AM

In my family it was: "Aha," she cried as she wrapped her wooden leg around the bedpost! This seemed to go along with, "I see," said the blind man to his deaf and dumb daughter.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: Snuffy
Date: 16 May 15 - 04:07 PM

Noel, thanks for letting us know she would be pleased - I'm sorry it took six years before anybody responded to Marg's query, but since then we have managed to come up with enough theories to satisfy most tastes.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Noel MacDonald
Date: 16 May 15 - 01:15 PM

My wife, Marg Meikle, started this thread back in 1997. A year later she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and struggled with that til her death in Dec. 2013.
I'm finally getting around to the interment of her ashes this weekend.
She can truly rest in peace now that her final question has been answered.
Thank you all.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Tom Hunter
Date: 09 May 15 - 12:53 AM

The variation my father (born 1915, service in WWII) used during my childhood in the 70's was thus:
Oh yes, I see it all, she cried, as she waved her wooden leg"

He used this as a humorous expression of wry surprise whenever he'd figured out some particularly annoying problem or uncovered a clue to a mystery.

It would seem that things are becoming circular as this URL - http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/84554/origin-of-i-see-said-the-blind-man-as-he-waved-his-wooden-leg - deals with the origins of the first part of my dad's version, and there is a comment on that thread - http://english.stackexchange.com/posts/84562/revisions - which refers back to a comment by McGrath of Harlow in 2006 on this one.

So, a Wellerism of some old song, bent and twisted through the age across the English speaking world in the early part of last century. Perhaps a mystery we can only approach but not solve. Good enough for me.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Aug 13 - 12:44 PM

Interesting that pythonesque/goon show humour has a long history into victorian music hall.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 05 Aug 13 - 08:48 AM

My Mother used this phrase often. ( Aha!, she cried as she threw her wooden leg aloft") Most often when she trumped someone's trick in Bridge. She was born in Canada in 1890. Her parents were of Irish origin, born I
in England and migrated to Canada, Guess that fits the profile.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Jimbo
Date: 24 Dec 12 - 04:13 PM

My Iowa-born (1912) mother always used the phrase following anytime she or anyone in her presence cried "Aha." Mom would always follow it with "she cried and waved her wooden leg aloft."

Today I was in another room and heard my wife say "Aha" as she was watching TV. So I said "...she cried and waved her wooden leg aloft."
Then I wondered what that meant, if anything, and where in the world it came from.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Uncle Pete's nephew
Date: 17 Dec 12 - 05:35 PM

My uncle Pete returned from WWII with a German bride and a few sayings. One of them was "We're off she cried as she shook her wooden leg." Somewhere along the way we learned that during his time in London there was a play with the line "We're off she cried as she shook her wooden leg and died." Another favorite was "Killer (fill in the blank) he was known as in those days; those were the days." I suspect there was a bit of gallows humor in this since Pete was dropped by parachute into the rear of the German coastal defenses during the invasion.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Guest., Nancy 9/11/12
Date: 11 Sep 12 - 06:46 PM

My grandmother, born in 1902 in Wisconsin used to say 'Hooray, she cried in accents wild as she waved her wooden leg aloft' when something wonderful happened! She was of Irish heritage and I've not heard it directly as written anywhere.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Bert
Date: 08 Aug 12 - 01:53 AM

I have used a variation of this since I first heard it from a friend at school when I was about fifteen (~1959). He usually offered it as a response when someone said 'Thank you' and that is how I use it now. I have no idea where he got it from. So what you would get is a person saying "Thank you" and this is responded to by "kind sir, she said, waving her wooden leg gaily in the air". It sort of suggests a parody on poor writing e.g "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Anyway, I still use it a lot.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,ellen
Date: 03 Aug 12 - 11:51 PM

The phrase we heard all our lives from our dad when he would give us a positive remark was '"Thank you, kind sir," she said with a smile, joyfully waving her wooden leg with the arm that she lost in the war!' I have never been able to find its source, and my dad is long gone. He was born in 1915.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Jul 12 - 07:31 PM

My family always says "Aha! She cried as she raised her wooden leg aloft". We have no idea where it came from either. The other one is "What have you got in the bag?" The answer is "Ears". Everyone in our family are readers and most do crossword puzzles too.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Apr 12 - 06:42 PM

***** Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From:GUEST,Marnie
Date: 11 Jan 10 - 07:44 PM

My mother-in-law, who was born in 1914 in Coventry England, would say
"Oh well, said Nell, waving her wooden leg" whenever things didn't turn out as she planned. *****

Hi I am from coventry too and my family have said "oh well, said nell" for years. I know this isnt what this thread is about but i really want to find out where this saying comes from and who the bloody hell was nell.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Sanders
Date: 26 Mar 12 - 04:49 PM

My mother (born in 1924) used to say it a bit differently: "Thank you kindly sir, said she, and waved her wooden leg at me". She would use it at moments when "Thank you" was appropriate, and as for others who have commented, it turned into a catch phrase in the family and the kids would chime in with the second part. I always presumed there was some source (music hall or other) that would make sense of the combination of thanks and wooden leg, but have never been able to find anything online. The fiendish glee version certainly sounds more likely in that respect.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Marianne
Date: 18 Feb 12 - 12:12 AM

I add another 'fiendish' variant, used many times by my mother (born in the US in 1917--both parents born in Germany). My father (also born in 1917, also born of German immigrant parents) served in the US Navy during WWII. Both my parents grew up in German-speaking communities in the Chicago area.

'"Oho!" she cried in fiendish glee and wildly waved her wooden leg.'

Could this be a naval variant, with a similar origin to that of the GUEST's 1/8/12 posting, that caught my mother's fancy? The scansion certainly supports an origin from a popular dance-hall song or poem...

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,GUEST
Date: 24 Jan 12 - 08:30 PM

My grandmother (born in 1869 in Wisconsin; lived in Montana in the 1910s and in California from the late 1910s until she died in 1959) used to use another variant: "Aha! she cried, And waved her wooden leg ON HIGH."
Like several of the other phrases she used, it seemed to me as a child and teenager to have no discernable meaning; but she'd cock her head, roll her eyes a bit sideways, and grin wickedly as if I were (or ought to be) in on the joke, and I'd smile obediently....
For years I've assumed it was from some widely-known music hall script; but inquiring amongst people in a retirement home where I volunteered to lead crossword puzzles in the late 90s-early 2000s produced no recognition.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 07:01 PM

My grandfather used to say 'Aha she cried in fiendish glee and waved her wooden leg at me." Sounds like its from the same source. He was in the navy.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Dec 11 - 04:22 PM

"The maiden stood on the fiery deck...."

This stanza is part of the American bawdy song "Christopher Colombo," which goes back more than a century.

In GUEST's version, though, an element has been added from Felicia Hemans's poem "Casabianca" (1826), which famously begins, "The boy stood on the burning deck,/ Whence all but he had fled."

That too has been parodied extensively.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Dec 11 - 03:05 PM

My mother (born 1924) used "aha she cried and waved her wooden leg" and so do I! I have no idea where it came from but her Father, my Grandpa, used to trot out plenty of London music hall catch phrases "What does Horrie say Winnie" and so forth so I would not be at all surprised if that was the origin of the wooden leg quote.

Cheers, Steve

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 07:20 PM

The maiden stood on the firey deck,
The villian he pursured her,
The white of an egg ran down her leg,
The son of a bitch had screwed her.

This was the rhyme sung around the small town in Missouri where I was raised. If your parents heard you singing it you got a real butt whippin' with whatever they could find. Paddle, razor strop, belt, switches, etc. We only sang it when no grownups were around. I didn't know it had quite a history behind it.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,amaxx1
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 01:16 PM

As a ten year old, a close family friend, out of the clear blue would say, Aha she cried in accents wild, as the white of an egg ran down her leg and the villain still pursued her.It would perplex and then crack me up. When I asked what this meant, my question was received with a sly smile. Whenever he said it we'd both crack up. I Googled this and got to this site.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Oct 11 - 01:48 PM

Our family's version via my grandmother who was from Alabama was "'Aha!' she cried as she shook her wooden leg and slowly walked away..." I'm amazed at how many variations there are here!

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Sep 11 - 12:17 PM

I can't deny the similarity, M.

The parodist must have been a fairly literate person, in that case.

From Charles J. Finger's "Frontier Ballads" (1927):

"When sailors sang sea-songs, they refused to sing the song as it was written if there was the slightest chance to distort it. Take 'Nancy Lee,' which ran in part:

See how she stands upon the quay
And waves her hands to me.

"It was always rendered:

See how she stands upon her hands
And waves her legs to me."

Finger was on shipboard in the 1890s.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 23 Sep 11 - 11:09 AM

Agreed, Lighter. But I would urge my suggestion that a line from Chaucer's The Miller's Tale might have had an influence too ~

"Teehee!" quod she, and clapte the window to" 09 Aug 09 - 01:49 PM

~M~

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Sep 11 - 11:00 AM

Actually it's five out of eight, if you don't count the shift in tense. And five out of eight is plenty, particularly since "Adieu" and "Aha" are so similar in form.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Sep 11 - 10:24 AM

After reviewing the entire thread, and several giant databases, I feel certain that McGrath of Harlow had the right idea back in 2006. He said that the simplest form of the saying was a parody of the final lines of "Sweet William's Farewell to Black-Eyed Susan," written by John Gay around 1715:


The boatswain gave the dreadful word,
The sails their swelling bosom spread,
No longer must she stay aboard;
They kiss'd, she sigh'd, he hung his head.
Her lessening boat unwilling rows to land;
'Adieu!' she cries; and waved her lily hand.


The form, the scansion, and six of the eight words are identical. What's more, "leg" pretty much rhymes with "spread" and "head."

"Black-Eyed Susan" was a popular song for 150 years. Captain Whall even includes it in his book of sea songs and shanties as having been sung in the 1860s.

The parody words don't seem to be reported until around 1900, but the large number of variants suggest that it's rather older than that.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: Jeri
Date: 22 Sep 11 - 10:59 PM

It's definitely not in the Bumper Book. I can't think of what children's book it might have been in.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,SuRi
Date: 22 Sep 11 - 10:54 PM

Mom (80-something) just asked me to go online and find the poem with "Aha! she cried in fiendish glee as she woggled her wooden leg at me!" She says she learned it in one of her books when she was little, or when she read to my sister in the late '50s. Maybe from the Bumper Book? (She grew up in rural Illinois, mostly English ancestry).

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Joi
Date: 18 Sep 11 - 04:06 PM

My father used to say, "'Aha!' she cried, as she shook her wooden leg." After awhile, he start the phrase and we would both say, "as she shook her wooden leg." He was born in 1919 and did not know the origin. His parents were born in Indiana and moved to Washington State. The economy was not good, so they moved to Hermiston, Oregon (Eastern Oregon) and raised their kids. Dad was in the Navy in WWII, so he could have picked it up on the ship. I always thought that Dad's family couldhave gotten it from a Radio Play or from a High School Play; but, perhaps he picked it up on the ship.

After reading all of the threads, I do remember something about an eyeball rolling off or down something, but cannot remember whether or not it came from the "wooden leg" phrase.

At least I know that I am not the only person in the world who is perplexed by this phrase! Can any new person to this thread put us out of our misery by telling us the origin?

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Guest Genghiz.Cohen
Date: 12 May 11 - 02:43 AM

The variants of these various phrases that I am familiar with are -
'... she said, gaily waving her wooden leg in the air' usually in reference to possible double meaning in something said just before - along the lines of '... as the Bishop said to the Actress.'
'I see, said the blind man' in response to some revelation.
Both phrases were picked up from my grandmother, born in the latter part of Victoria's reign.
'Ooh, it's agony, Ivy' was a radio catch phrase (often used around my Auntie Ivy.)
"Teehee!" quod she, and clapte the window to" deserves to be used more often!

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,GUEST, Stu H
Date: 05 May 11 - 12:38 AM

My Dad was born in Iowa in 1895. When he was working on a project and something went well he would often say, "Aha she cried and waved her wooden leg." He would also whistle 'La Paloma' as he worked. My wife, of Hungarian extraction, born in the late 1920's & from Ohio,introduced me to, "You're a liar said the Dummy as the Blind man picked up his hammer and saw."

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Mike M
Date: 21 Feb 11 - 09:02 PM

Whenever we left on a family car trip, as we pulled out of the driveway my father would say:

"We're off!" she cried,
and waved aloft her wooden leg
and died. And the wind
whistled through the knot hole.

He was obviously quoting from something, but I have a feeling he'd composed the last sentence himself. He didn't always add it, but it was understood, and sometimes I'd say it. To this day I quote these lines myself (or sometimes just "'We're off!' she cried") when leaving on a car trip.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Rox
Date: 11 Feb 11 - 04:39 PM

Did you ever get the lyrics of that song? My grandpa used to sing it to our great delight but, I was a young child and only remember bits and pieces.

Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
From: GUEST,Indrani Ananda
Date: 12 Jan 11 - 04:38 PM

As soon as I saw this I remembered it, but not as 'Aha' being the first word. After much memory-searching that first word eluded me. So I scrolled down all the messages and there it was: "I see," said the blind man, and waved his wooden leg! My gran was always coming out with this saying as it usually inferred that I hadn't properly understood something she'd said, ie pretending to see something you had not seen at all. "Agony Ivy " and "It's sky blue pink with a yellow border" were other little gems one heard from time to time.   

                                           Indrani.