The origin of the baker's dozen

[madbaker]

A broker I deal with asks a daily trivia question. Today's was "Why is a baker's dozen thirteen instead of twelve?"

Here's my answer. I didn't send it to the broker - he wouldn't appreciate it, but you lot might.

Richard Dozeine, Chamberlain of the Royal Office of Weights and Measures, invented the dozen in 1342. Previously in Britain measurement units were not standardized; each town had its own units. For example, a "tensome" in Burton-on-Trent was anywhere from ten to twenty units, while a "tenner" in the outskirts of London was only eight.

To help standardize measurements across the country and promote trade, Dozeine promulgated a standard measurement of twelve which quickly became known as a "Dozeine". It is not recorded why he chose twelve as the number; the rumor that he possessed twelve fingers to count on has never been substantiated.

Dozeine died in office two years later. His deputy, Edward Baker, continued the standardization. Unfortunately one of his missives contained a scribal error and defined a dozeine as "XIII" items. This was not caught for quite some time and put merchants in a bind - they could be charged with false standards if they sold a dozeine containing twelve items under the newer law, but were equally culpable if they sold thirteen under the old law! To get around this, merchants started differentiating between a dozeine and a "Baker's dozeine".

Comments

[j-i-m-r.livejournal.com]

My leg feels pulled :-)
I fear the baker makes up too much :-)

[vitrarius.livejournal.com]

I agree, I think that we might be getting a short measure on this information; since the penalties for this are harsh he may want to throw in an extra loaf. ;-)

[aimeric.livejournal.com]

Ever play Balderdash? :)

(heh. Suddenly I'm picturing an A&S competition where the judges are given several sets of 'documentation' and try to determine which of the entries are real and which are fabricated...OTOH, could set a bad precedent :) )

[tsgeisel.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a great contest for Ducal, though.

Yes you are

[ldyanna.livejournal.com]

Good story though and much better than the truth!

[ermine-rat.livejournal.com]

a fake documentation contest? love it!

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

...in an monastery long ago, there was an individual whose duty it was to paint pretty pictures around the edges of documents. He was called an illustrator, until the day he left his candle too close to the case of drying documents and set the whole building afire. The light from the blazing monestery illuminated the whole countryside that night .. and henceforth manuscript illustrators have been called illuminators. Did you know that?

[ermine-rat.livejournal.com]

Alexander the great owed a great deal for his sense of timing on the battlefield. Luring the main body of the opposing army could be done if they sense a weakness in the center, it was a ticklish matter to make this happen at the right time, and it could only be done with accurate timing. Modern acheology has unearthed the secret to this timing secret. Some of Alexander's commanders wore a linen cloth band around their arm that was dipped in a base solution, and would change color over a short time when exposed to acids in your sweat. After the band changed colors, it was time for Alexander's troops to quit playing weak, and come on strong to close the trap on whomever they were fighting that day. I have always refered to that linen as Alexander's rag-time band....bada-boom!

MasterWeighter

[fionnbharro.livejournal.com]

We have a new superhero:

'Dick Dozen, The Weightsmaster' (or maybe 'The Measuremaster'. Or even: 'The MasterWeighter')

I suppose he came up with the 'Yeah, Babe; I gotch'er Twelve *right here*!' -line, too.

[maestrateresa.livejournal.com]

I would *never* call you a liar. ;-)

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

No one has!

[maestrateresa.livejournal.com]

And why would they!? ;->

[aastg.livejournal.com]

(snerk) You must have expected us all to guess right on the first try on this one: if the slightly GSP-flavored allusion to 12-fingered Dick hadn't given it away, the deputy named Baker certainly did.

Still, your Bullshit-Scholarly style is on a level with hrj's...