A lighthearted but lively debate has erupted online over what to call the end slice of a loaf of bread, with no clear consensus in sight.
It began when a Reddit user posted an image of the last piece of a loaf, asking, “What do you call this?” The comment section quickly filled with suggestions ranging from “the heel” to “the butt,” “crust,” and “end piece.”
“I call it the heel. My kids call it the butt,” one user shared. Another wrote, “Can we call it a crust?” Someone else joked, “Half of a dad sandwich,” explaining that children avoid it, leaving dads to finish the loaf.
The Cambridge Dictionary lists “heel” as the correct term. But the debate isn’t just in the UK. In Norway and Sweden, it’s called the “skalk,” while Poland says “dupka,” and Germany “knust” or “knerzel.” The Netherlands uses “kapje,” and in Scotland, they’re simply “outsiders.”