# Why!!!! Why o why!!!! \[hot dogs and hot dog buns\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686 "2013-12-06T16:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [December 6, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686/21 "2013-12-06T18:52:30Z")
Buns are always 8 or 12, in my experience. I can’t remember ever seeing six, either. However, the dogs themselves are usually 8 or 10. (Although I’ve also seen 4 and 6, depending on the size.) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@Mister\_Owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Owl)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686/22 "2013-12-06T22:43:29Z")
You atheists don’t understand that you are supposed to drop one or two dogs through the grate as a sacrifice to the BBQ gods. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686/23 "2013-12-06T22:59:35Z")
I just now realized the OP said 8 dogs and 6 buns while in the US it’s usually 10/8. Is the OP outside the US? Are we talking metric wieners here? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686/24 "2013-12-07T03:06:41Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > It is mandated by the sellers of canned beans - so you have two dogs to add to the baked beans. This was my solution, until I started buying bun length hot dogs, which seem to always be packaged in eights. I don’t like hot dogs with turkey or chicken or pork in them, only 100% beef. And I vastly prefer boiled dogs. For some reason, they don’t taste as good when they are nuked or fried. I used to love the hot dogs at the base bowling alley in Torrejon, they’d split them lengthwise and grill them. I never could duplicate them. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686/25 "2013-12-07T04:00:52Z")
DMark, yes, the big fat “dinner” Hebrew National. Nom. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686/26 "2013-12-07T16:18:16Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > I just now realized the OP said 8 dogs and 6 buns while in the US it’s usually 10/8. Is the OP outside the US? Are we talking metric wieners here? Obligatory -“Metric Wieners” would be a great band name. Or the book title of a collection of essays. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686/27 "2013-12-07T18:01:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Mister Owl** (who is a recognized authority on quantities of food products): > > You atheists don’t understand that you are supposed to drop one or two dogs through the grate as a sacrifice to the BBQ gods. There is truth here. No matter how exactingly you plan, the numbers will never actually end up matching anyway. Some sausages and some buns will inevitably be lost to dogs stealing them, or falling through the grill, or falling on the ground, or people eating one without the other, or tearing apart to uselessness when you try to separate them, or any of a host of other fates. And it’s almost certainly not going to be the same number of lost buns and sausages, and you don’t know which one will be greater. So just buy plenty of both, and figure out what to do with the leftovers after the fact, when you actually know how many you have. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686/28 "2013-12-07T18:52:11Z")
[Steve Martin](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYIHLUxzRr8) on this very issue. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686/29 "2013-12-07T20:18:16Z")
Last I checked, downsizing meant that pretty much all hot dogs except for Oscar Meyer come in packs of 8 anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-why-o-why-hot-dogs-and-hot-dog-buns/675686.md?page=1)