Talk:Baker's dozen

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I think the explaination given for the bakers dozen is wrong- I was always told that in ancient times that bread was sold by weight, and the punishment for being underweight was severe- your hand was chopped off. So bakers always used to give 13 for the price of 12 to be certain of not being underweight. A search on google supplies some people who support my theory.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.243.220.41 (talk • contribs) .

It dates back to the statute of Henry III, 13th century, Middle Ages. Even if there is evidence of similar practices in other "Ancient" civilizations (Asia, Rome, etc..) other cultures could have called it somthing else entirely. "Baker's dozen" is an English term which originated with the 13th century English statute. --Stbalbach 05:48, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

Do either of the two above posters have sources for their comments? Internet searches often yield incorrect information that stems from popular memes being passed around by e-mail. Backronym explanations for common four letter words come to mind (ship high in transit and fornication under the control of the king. both have long since been disproved). I'd like to point out that etymonline has an interesting passage under "bake," on this page: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?l=b&p=1 . I am inclined to believe that this is a more proper explanation than an unnamed statue under Henry III. The passage essentially says that the distributors bakers sold their goods to received 13 for the price of 12 - these middlemen were essentially paid in baked goods (one free batch per dozen sold).

The main reason this is more plausible is that if bread were so tight a resource that the monarchy felt a need to pass a statute regulating its distribution, it's hard to believe that a baker would be so generous as to give a nearly 8% discount off their goods. Moreover, how such a term could survive beyond the end of such a draconian statute is entirely beyond me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.125.161.107 (talk) 06:36, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Shipley

Another meaning of a bakers dozen in the town of Shipley (England) is a series of thirteen forward rolls done in succession - (preferably down a hill)

I have removed the above passage from the article as non-notable and unverifiable. If someone can cite a source and put forward a reason why this should be included here, please feel free to do so and return it to the article. Kafziel 14:03, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] sacrifice to the devil

This sounds like typical "medieval" folklore (more likely with origins post-Enlightenment) -- if it's going to be included in the article, it needs to have some really solid sources, because all the investigation I have done on this subject it has never come up. I believe it to be "false" in a Snopes sort of way. -- Stbalbach 23:08, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, that was a joke. I was in a joking mood. I wanted to see that on Wikipedia:Bad_jokes_and_other_deleted_nonsense though. 69.19.14.35 00:21, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

As they say in the movies, "oh be-have". Seriously, though, we are trying to write an encyclopedia here, so don't make joke edits. Some readers looking for a serious article might not find them amusing. Remember, millions of people read Wikipedia, so we have to take what we do a bit seriously here. If you'd like to experiment with editing, try the sandbox, where you can write whatever you want (as long as it's not offensive). Maybe you should check out Wikipedia:Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense.

[edit] bakers dozen

The fact that bakers sell items by the dozen begs the question---why a dozen instead of ten. Is this related in some way to 12 inches in a foot? Inquiring minds want to know. Legrand7

Simple, 12 is divisible by many more numbers. --jazzle 09:15, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

As an interesting side note, this IS related to 12 inches and a foot. 12 has many more factors than 10. Anyone who's done physical work with both the imperial and metric systems can tell you this. Of course, when it's all calculations done on computers it becomes less relevant... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.104.56.3 (talk) 05:29, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Many more factors? 12 = 2^2 * 3 and 10=2 * 5. They have the same number of prime factors. Only the degree is different, and only by 1. By no stretch can 12 be said to have many more. Superm401 - Talk 22:24, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Modern uses

This entire section seems ludicrous. Anyone with any sense of intelligence can tell you that it's far easier to fit 3x4 in a pan than this ridiculous arrangement of 13. 69.253.193.234 04:31, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

I disagree, since it depends on the size of the oven and/or the tray. A staggered pattern is a better use of the space. --jazzle 09:16, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

It certainly is totally unsourced. Superm401 - Talk 22:25, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Folklore

I wrote a section about folklore dealing with Baker's dozen. It was deleted. I was wondering why and where it would have been more appropriate. I was also wondering if Project Gutenberg is considered a verifiable source? deepsack (talk) 17:21, 14 May 2008 (UTC)