I think it's regional differences...

Nobody else has said this, but I was taught Mrs Arden had a worm in her garden. I'm from the SE.

I have never heard the Mrs Arden phrase.

Here after a burp, some will say 'scuse my French!

Pardon Mrs. Arden but I can't recall what was in her garden.
Egg n chips. I think it rolls off the tongue easier.
I'm a Geordie but I have lived in the S/E for donkeys years now.
I'd hum and haa, and my mother always told me it's 'I beg your pardon?' Not just 'pardon?' Apparently, saying it on it's own is considered rude! Oh, hum and haa!

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202403/medium-508391-fairycakes-93711-16x9.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202403/medium-54191-fairy-cakes.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202403/medium-976750-christmas-fairy-cakes-10.jpg

Fairy cakes. With or without icing. Made in small paper cases.

NotSpaghetti

Honestly!

THESE are fairycakes

No, those are butterfly buns, just like the ones my grandma, then my mum, then I made.

And yes, cupcakes are bigger

I have never heard of the Mrs Arden thing.
I would always put the 'main' part of a meal first:

Egg & chips
Sausage & mash
Bread & butter
Fish & chips

Honestly!

THESE are fairycakes

I was taught to say pardon me (without the piggy poem!)

I was taught to ignore a burp. If you say pardon it draws others attention to it. If you ignore it they can do the same.

I don't think Mrs Arden crossed the Border. At least, I never heard of her in my Scottish childhood.

"Bluebelle* That is Shakespeare, too.
Poem from "Cymbelline" -

Phoebus is driving his sun chariot across the skies.

"Hark, hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings,
And Phoebus 'gins arise,
His steeds to water at those springs
On chaliced flowers that lies;
And winking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes:
With every thing that pretty is,
My lady sweet, arise:
Arise, arise."

Mary-buds = marigolds, particularly the marsh marigold, " a flower of wet grasslands, marshes, ditches and river margins, which displays its flash of brilliant gold in spring . . . the yellow plant of Bealtaine, the old Celtic festival of sun, fire and life, heralding the return of summer and celebrated on May 1" www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2016/05/07/news/take-on-nature-winking-marybuds-stir-old-rituals-506023/

Oldnproud

Witzend

Never heard the Mrs Arden thing.
Egg and chips here. (Outer London childhood)

One difference I used to notice, a friend from Sheffield used to refer to what I would call fairy cakes, as buns. To me buns would be made from a yeast mix, not a sponge cake mix.

They were definitely 'buns' in my part of Yorkshire too, though I often saw and heard them referred to as ^fairy cakes' elsewhere.
Nowadays, the younger people in our family all call them 'cupcakes'.

Gdcs always have to be told that the things I make for their birthday parties are fairy cakes, NOT cupcakes! Cupcakes are bigger - and usually topped with far too much icing.

From Essex Mrs Arden had a pussy in her garden

Oh another I ve just thought of
If someone rushing around they ve “got a flea up their bum”

Well I use the ‘will wife’s mothers”
My Nan used to say
“Looking dark over Wills wife’s mothers” she was from Leicestershire I queried this years later and was told the Will is William Shakespeare not sure why his wife’s mum though

We also used to go to ‘ the foot of our stairs’

My Nan also used to say “here comes Phoebe” when the sun comes out no one round here had heard of it but when I look it up I think Phoebe was the god ofvthe sun or something so did made sense

My grandad used to “go to see a man about a dog” when he didn’t want to say where he was going , again Leicestershire

Oh Gin, I loved the phrase about going to the foot of the stairs to indicate surprise. I heard it first in Liverpool, too, and have used it ever since. It makes no sense, of course...

It's raining over Bill's mother's". I don't know which region that is from.
In the SE I say ‘bit dark over Will’s mum’s’

Thanks Callistemon for putting the true ‘Mares eat oats…..words.

Egg and chips, and a bag of scrumps
No don’t say scrumps
We use the word ‘scraps’
Fish, chips and scraps please

There’s a kangaroo loose in the top paddock = you’re losing it.
Rushing around like a blue arsed fly= pointless rushing about
Icypole= ice cream on a stick, fruit variety
So far up hisself he can see daylight ( needs no explanation!)
Gone troppo= probably lives in FNQ ( far North Queensland) and affected by the weather

MissAdventure, It was always Mrs Wright who had a fright 👻

My friend who came from Liverpool always said when surprised by something ‘well I’ll go to the foot of our stairs’. Always made me laugh, I had never heard that saying before

Mrs White, had a fright, in the middle of the night.
Saw a ghost, eating toast, halfway up a lamp post.

I know a ditty nutty as a fruitcake
Goofy as a goon and silly as a loon
Some call it pretty, others call it crazy
But they all sing this tune:
Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
Yes! Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey
Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy"
Oh! Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you-oo?
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

How strange that we were taught it's polite to say 'Pardon?' and extremely rude to say 'What?' 🤔