# What do you call an individual unit of bacon? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 8, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719 "2013-02-08T18:06:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/1 "2013-02-08T18:06:04Z")
Ha ha, “A whole pig!” While I certainly agree (I have eight pieces in the oven right now :)), I want to know what you call one unit of bacon. Where you’re from might be interesting, too. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/2 "2013-02-08T18:09:55Z")
A single piece of bacon is a slice, or a strip. A rasher is a SERVING of bacon, consisting of several slices. Unless, of course, you are someone like my husband with a voracious bacon appetite. Then a serving would be an entire side of bacon, fried up crisply. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/3 "2013-02-08T18:12:10Z")
Probably strip or rasher. All of those are possibilities, though; I’m not sure I have a clear favourite. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/4 "2013-02-08T18:13:38Z")
“Side of bacon” sounds right to me. And a piece of bacon is a strip or a slice. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/5 "2013-02-08T18:14:53Z")
Rasher is rarely heard on this side of the pond. Slice, slices, serving. Anyone else use a Zik-Zak Electric Bacon Straightener? It lets you be rasher with your rasher. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/6 "2013-02-08T18:15:14Z")
The smallest unit of bacon is a strip. A serving of bacon is properly referred to as ‘all of it’. ETA: A ‘bacon straightener’? Please tell me you’re making that up, or that it’s something less stupid than I think. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/7 "2013-02-08T18:25:49Z")
Of course, they don’t have [proper bacon](http://www.meatpacks.co.uk/lg_images/UnsmokedBackBacon454.jpg) in America anyway. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/8 "2013-02-08T18:27:13Z")
Slice. Or possibly strip. I have never heard “rasher” outside of UK usage. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/9 "2013-02-08T18:27:58Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#): > > ETA: A ‘bacon straightener’? Please tell me you’re making that up, or that it’s something less stupid than I think. I am not making it up. I saw an ad for it with a very well-known spokesman. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/10 "2013-02-08T18:29:02Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Of course, they don’t have [proper bacon](http://www.meatpacks.co.uk/lg_images/UnsmokedBackBacon454.jpg) in America anyway. “Unsmoked bacon”? Um… I’ll just let that stand on its own. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/11 "2013-02-08T18:30:56Z")
Usually a piece of bacon, tho I have used slice & strip before too. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/12 "2013-02-08T18:32:30Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > A single piece of bacon is a slice, or a strip. A rasher is a SERVING of bacon, consisting of several slices. > > Unless, of course, you are someone like my husband with a voracious bacon appetite. Then a serving would be an entire side of bacon, fried up crisply. > ~VOW No, the primary definition of rasher is ["a thin slice](http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/american/rasher?showCookiePolicy=true) [of bacon](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rasher)". ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/13 "2013-02-08T19:14:45Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Rasher is rarely heard on this side of the pond. Slice, slices, serving. > > Anyone else use a Zik-Zak Electric Bacon Straightener? It lets you be rasher with your rasher. Cook your strips, slices, and/or rashers in the oven and they will always come out straight. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/14 "2013-02-08T19:17:39Z")
Why is straight bacon desirable? I don’t mind the curls. In fact, I kind of like them ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/15 "2013-02-08T19:18:53Z")
**What do you call an individual unit of bacon?** “Not enough.” edit: In my brain I answered “strip” but when I thought about conversations in my real life I usually say “piece.” I’m in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/16 "2013-02-08T19:39:30Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > A single piece of bacon is a slice, or a strip. A rasher is a SERVING of bacon, consisting of several slices. Hmm… I’ll admit to being unsure, but this was not my understanding when I posted the poll. Prior to a few years ago (I’m 39), I thought a “rasher” was the whole package from the store, generally a pound. I’ve been corrected several times since then, and now I wonder if I was corrected incorrectly. Edit : I see that I was corrected correctly: > [@Doug\_K](#): > > No, the primary definition of rasher is ["a thin slice](http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/american/rasher?showCookiePolicy=true) [of bacon](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rasher)". ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/17 "2013-02-08T19:42:14Z")
Rasher: Australia ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/18 "2013-02-08T19:49:33Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > Cook your strips, slices, and/or rashers in the oven and they will always come out straight. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Why is straight bacon desirable? I don’t mind the curls. In fact, I kind of like them Straight bacon strips, like straight lines, are pre-pre-preferred by s-some. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/19 "2013-02-08T19:52:17Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Straight bacon strips, like straight lines, are pre-pre-preferred by s-some. Does not compute. The wrinkles/curls are part of what defines it as bacon. Otherwise it’s just thin pork. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719/20 "2013-02-08T19:54:10Z")
Strip. And my reaction to the poll was “Hey, so that’s what a rasher is!” I’d never come across the term except in fiction set in Britain. Those little British/American linguistic differences leave me wondering what the heck people are eating over there sometimes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-an-individual-unit-of-bacon/649719.md?page=2)