Who kneads it?

Do you eat the sole of the bread or the heel? Or do you put it out for the birds? In Dutch, it’s called the ‘kontje’ which basically means ‘little bum’. Also, the Dutch don’t have a separate word for a slice of bread. It’s called a ‘boterham’ which is also the word for a sandwich. The history of the word ‘sandwich’ in English for anyone who doesn’t know: the sandwich is named after the Earl of Sandwich (Sandwich is a small town near Dover, in England). The story goes that he asked for his meat to be served between two slices of bread so he wouldn’t have to leave the gambling table to dine.

A loaf is the standard way of buying bread, although in Italy it’s generally sold by weight. The most bread is eaten in Germany. ‘Loaf’ is also a verb, meaning to hang around doing nothing very useful. Loafers are slip-on shoes and if you use your loaf, you use your head.

A ‘baker’s dozen’ is not twelve of something, but thirteen. The thirteenth loaf was added by the baker to make sure that the customer got the correct weight of bread, since it was law in medieval times that bread be sold by weight.

Before rubber erasers were invented, a rolled-up piece of white bread was used to erase graphite.

And weirdly – etymology of the word ‘lady’ is literally: one who kneads bread.