Why do hot dogs come in packages...

This question has been the subject of much debate here at the Almanac. Several theories have been floated, including “it’s a marketing tool to get you to buy more hot dogs.” However, we were so impressed by one colleague’s idea that we’re going with it: It’s because a pig’s intestine is just long enough to make 8 hot dogs, and a rope of dough works out to 12 buns! (We also think the question could join the “Unanswerable Questions” that we listed in the “Anecdotes and Pleasantries” section of the 1997 Almanac; for example, “Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?”)