The End of a Loaf of Bread

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Garrett from San Diego.

Hi, Garrett.

I grew up calling the N2 slices of a loaf of bread a cronka.

A cronka?

A cronka.

Isn’t it like a Willy Wonka character?

And what’s the plural?

I would just assume cronka, maybe.

Cronka?

Nice.

But, yeah, I would always use that with my family, and I thought nothing of it.

But as soon as I started getting to college and calling it that around my friends, I would just get weird looks and the question, what’s a Kronka?

I was just kind of curious if I’ve been using it right this whole time and what the origin of that word might be.

Kronka? How do you spell Kronka?

I have no idea, but I would assume maybe C-R-U-N-K-A.

Kronka. Where is your family from, Hungary?

We would usually use it on my mom’s side of the family, and they’re from Pennsylvania.

So I’m thinking it might have something to do with German heritage.

Oh, so Pennsylvania Dutch.

I was joking about Hungary, by the way.

I also think our country to the north is Canada.

Canada, yeah.

So I’m sorry.

I was joking about Hungary because it just seems like, for some reason,

It just reminds me of the few words that have come into English from Hungary.

But the Pennsylvania Dutch actually, that’s a strong connection.

What part of Pennsylvania were they from?

Oil City, Pennsylvania.

Where is that? Southeast?

That’s more towards the west.

The west, okay.

Yeah.

Oil City.

Kronka.

I’ve never heard Kronka for the end pieces of a loaf of bread.

Never.

I’m thinking Kronk in German is sick.

It’s been Kronk.

I know.

Do you like them?

I do.

I love Kronka.

You prefer to take the end pieces off a loaf of bread.

Oh, I do.

That’s all the flavor.

Really?

Because in our house, they were the heel, which I think is the standard or the more common word for it.

And it was the last piece eaten if it was ever eaten at all.

Usually it would be so stale by the time the loaf was finished that you would just give it to the birds.

Right. And it’s the first piece you dig past.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It’s the part of the bread that spawned French toast.

You know, that’s how you use the heel of a loaf of bread.

You make it in French toast and you can’t taste that it’s stale anymore.

You know, we posted a question about this on our Facebook page.

And we got lots of responses.

And it was really kind of interesting, Martha, the way the answers broke down, wasn’t it?

Yeah.

A lot of people called them heels.

A lot of people called them bread butts.

The bread butt.

So the heel of the loaf of bread is the bread butt.

Very good.

I know in Spanish the word is codo, which means elbow, which sort of makes more sense if you’re talking about a baguette.

And I’m wondering, cronca.

In one of these old folk speech of South Cheshire dictionaries, they’re called the kissin’ crust.

But mainly this would be in a bakery where loaves of bread were cooked next to each other.

So the two ends would kiss when they cooked.

They expanded just a little bit.

They would kiss.

I like that.

The kissin’ crust.

So, Garrett, in your house it was a delicacy then.

Well, I think just for me.

I think I was the only one that really preferred it.

Well, no.

There were a number of people on Facebook, on our Facebook page at the username Wayword Radio,

Who also said that they prized the heel.

For them, it was a treat.

And I’ve heard other stories about this.

And people, that’s the piece that they want because they prefer the crust.

They like the flavor there.

It’s the texture that they want.

The inside is just a mushy mass.

And they wanted something with a little character.

Oh, exactly.

That’s the best part.

Yeah, I was going to say, especially if it’s not rainbow bread or wonder bread,

You know, where you do have to toss those ends.

But maybe some people really like them.

I don’t know.

Right, if you’re talking about some artisanal loaf from the local bakery, right?

Right.

That’s a different story.

But nobody, as far as we know, has used the word cronka.

I don’t know anything about the word cronka.

Cronka.

Well, so we have to put the call out.

If you’re listening to this program and you use the word cronka for the heel of a loaf of bread,

Give us a call, 877-929-9673, or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.

Cronka.

Interesting.

Garrett, you’ve stumped us with your cronka.

Well, it looks like that’s unique, then.

I guess.

We’ll find out.

Yeah, we will find out for sure.

Wait till the masses respond.

We’ll know for sure.

Thank you for calling, Garrett.

Thank you.

All right, bye-bye.

Okay, bye-bye.

Kronka.

You know, I’m remembering now that in Paul Dixon’s book of family words,

There are a lot of other family words for this, including bunce, B-U-N-C-E.

Oh, good, good.

But somebody else on our Facebook page used the word skirk, S-K-I-R-K.

Skirk for the heel of a loaf of bread.

Here, have a skirk.

Well, we’ll link to all this stuff from our website at waywordradio.org.

And if you’ve got more to say about what to call the heel of a loaf of bread,

Give us a call, 877-929-9673,

Or send email to words@waywordradio.org.