A dozen? 12 or 13

satanslawyer · June 21, 2001, 4:16pm

I’m almost positive this question has been answered by Cecil before, but I couldn’t find it in my two Straight Dope books.

Why is a bakers dozen 13?

Ethilrist · June 21, 2001, 4:35pm

I was told that it’s a dozen of today’s doughnuts and one of yesterday’s.

Kent_Clark · June 21, 2001, 5:06pm

One out of the batch for the baker to eat.

mongrel_8 · June 21, 2001, 5:06pm

I always heard it was to ensure that at least 12 of the items were ok to eat. Just a WAG though.

Anachronism · June 21, 2001, 5:17pm