What is the meaning and origin of `baker's dozen'?
(R. Pandey, Nagpur)
Number 13 is believed to be
an unlucky number by a lot of
people. Many hotels, in fact,
do not have a room which is
numbered 13. In some high
rise buildings, you may find
the 13th floor missing! When
you say that you want a baker's
dozen of something, it
means you want 13 pieces of
it. Baker's dozen means 13.
How many loaves do we
need? I'd say a baker's dozen.
This is an idiom which
owes its existence to a practice
that was started during
medieval England. In 1266, a
law was passed in Parliament
which specified exactly how
much each loaf of bread must
weigh. When a baker sold a
loaf that was less than the
specified amount, a heavy
penalty was imposed on him.
To prevent this from happening,
a baker always added an
extra loaf. If you bought
twelve loaves of bread, the
baker gave you 13: just to
make sure that he wasn't penalised.
* * *
"Those who go to college and never get out are called professors." - George Givot
S. UPENDRAN
upendrankye@gmail.com
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