I think it's regional differences...

Hum and Haw
Egg and chips.
Never heard about Mrs Harden's garden and chickens

What did people's parents (mum) say when asked what for dinner, please?
I suspect that varies a lot!!

Eggs and chips.
I’m from the south but now live in the north.
In the south it’s bits and bobs, in the north it’s bits and bats!

Dee1012

On moving to the North East and asking for a couple of Barm Cakes....I needed to ask for Stotties!

As. Teenager I worked in a shop serving holiday makers , so every fortnight on wakes weeks turnover, we had to use a different name for an item . As it was NW I missed out on the stotties but we had tea cakes, barm cakes , oven bottoms, baps , bread cakes, flour cakes to name but a few. Glasgow fortnight was “ Lock up your daughters” time.

MissAdventure

What did people's parents (mum) say when asked what for dinner, please?
I suspect that varies a lot!!

Sawdust and Hay! would have been one of the more polite responses …depending on the prevailing mood in the kitchen😄

Marydoll

Vito

I say, the same as you, Arden and Chicken, but always egg and chips. I'm from East Anglia, my family Suffolk/Norfolk .
Shirley Valentine said chips and egg,first time I'd ever heard it, drove me mad 😀

I have never heard this expression!

Never heard of it (Arden/Chicken), but I am in Scotland. Egg and chips here.

lizzypopbottle

Jam and bread (NE) or bread and jam?

Scotland (central) 'A piece 'n jam'

Well Lizzie, I don't know Mrs Arden, but hopefully she would also advise you that if you & M-i-L can't tell the difference between a kitten and a chicken, then you have other problems?!

yogitree

lizzypopbottle

Jam and bread (NE) or bread and jam?

Scotland (central) 'A piece 'n jam'

Exactly!

"Air pie, with kick of the cat" was what we sometimes had for dinner.
There were worse meals threatened though, as you say.

Pardon mrs arden there's a man in your garden eating cherries off your tree, 😅 I'm from north east

I'm Yorkshire born and bread
But NEVER heard what's been said!

Yorkshire born, yorkshire bred.
Great at fighting, mint in bed.
Told to me by a Yorkshire man (unsurprisingly)

Pardon Mrs Arden there's a gissy ( a pig )in your garden. I am in the north east. I think my father said it came from ITMA but can't imagine the BBC using gissy.

My husband always refers to a ‘plate of soup’. Sounds messy to me, a plate is flat and not suitable for soup. Obviously he means a bowl of soup , we’ve been having this debate for nearly 40 years.

I’m of ‘56 vintage brought up in East Yorkshire for me it was ‘Piggy in your garden’

Witzend

Aveline

We were never allowed to say, 'pardon'. Only, 'I beg your pardon' or if necessary, 'Sorry?'

Me too!

And me, 'pardon' was seen as rude!

I know it as, Pardon Mrs Arden, is my chicken in your garden? No Mrs Kelly, its in my belly!
As for names of things, when I moved north to Cambridgeshire, no-one understood at the chippy what a wally was! They only had the small gerkins.

MissAdventure Remember the Woodentops? (We had a video tape a very long time ago!)
What shall we have for dinner today?
Sawdust and hay, sawdust and hay
Sawdust and hay for dinner today.

Egg and chips. Never heard of the pardon thing. I am from the South East (home counties).

Pardon Mrs Arden for farting in your garden!
Definitely Egg and Chips, Shirley Valentine got it SO wrong saying Chips and Egg! Infuriates me!

Beg you pardon Mrs Harden, my cat's ran up your garden. Cobs. Egg 'n Chips. Midlands. (Leicestershire)

lizzypopbottle

MissAdventure Remember the Woodentops? (We had a video tape a very long time ago!)
What shall we have for dinner today?
Sawdust and hay, sawdust and hay
Sawdust and hay for dinner today.

I remember it now that you have reminded me.
I can remember saying that poem too.

Mares eat oats
And does eat oats
And little lambs eat ivy.

Funny how we working classes picked up no-no words.
Sofa - not settee or couch.
What? Not pardon.
Sitting room - not lounge (they are only in hotels).

Chips & eggs for me (NW you see!).

We always said; "Beg your pardon Mrs Arden, there's a chicken in your garden". I am from the County Durham originally.