Meaning of Idiom ‘If we had eggs we could make (or have) ham and eggs, if we had eggs’
A joke phrase used to emphasize the fact that one lacks what is necessary to do some specific thing or take some specific action.
Usage Notes
This phrase can be reversed to ‘if we had ham, we could make ham and eggs, if we had ham.’
Sentence Examples
“If we just had more money we could go on a long vacation.” “Yeah, and if we had eggs we could make ham and eggs, if we had eggs.”
“We need to get the kitchen redone.” “And if we had ham we could have ham and eggs, if we had ham.”
Origin
This humorous quip is attributed to Groucho Marx.