Hot Dogs & Buns

My man-children would like to know why do hot dogs come in packages of 10 and hot dog buns come in packages of 8?

Answer:

This is often referred to as the old "8 or 10 paradox". I'll explain the background:

Armour was the first company to make hot dogs. Elmer Armour had started the company and it finally drove him mad, at which time Elmer Jr. took the reins (so to speak).

One fateful day Old Elmer locked himself in the meat locker by accident and wasn't found until the next morning. He had saved his hands from frostbite by fashioning a pair of gloves out of hot dogs. He bit off the end and jammed his finger down inside the dog. Anyway, Elmer Jr. decided then and there that all packs should have 10 tube steaks (as he called them), one for each finger.

The first bakery company to bake buns for hot dogs was Wonder Bread Bakery. Mr. Wonder and his wife had five boys and a mean old dog named Kent. With 7 in the family and Kent they always went through 8 buns so that's how many he chose to be in each package. He didn't want to leave any to go stale and didn't want to have to open more than 1 bag.

A simple solution to this paradox is to buy dogs and buns 40 at a time.

Four packs of hot dogs and five packs of buns does the trick. And by inviting the neighborhood over for a back yard barbecue the problem of the excessive quantity of food is solved! The secret to making this work is to remember to not serve soda (sold 6 per pack).