A man watched his wife preparing dinner, and noticed something unusual. Before she fried the sausages, she always cut off both ends and tossed them away, only cooking the middle.

Confused, he asked, “Why do you always cut off the ends of the sausages before cooking them?”

She shrugged and replied, “I don’t know. It’s just how my mom taught me.”

Curious, the next day they visited her mother, and the wife asked, “Mom, why did you teach me to cut off the ends of the sausages?”

The mother paused and said, “I’m not really sure. That’s just how my mom did it. We should ask her.”

So the two of them went to the grandmother, and the wife asked, “Grandma, why do we always cut off the ends of the sausages before frying them?”

The grandmother smiled and said, “Well, that’s just the way my mom taught me. I never really thought about it. We should ask her.”

Determined to find the answer, the three women traveled to the great-grandmother at her retirement home. After explaining the situation, the great-granddaughter asked, “Great-grandma, why did you teach us to cut off the ends of the sausages?”

The elderly woman looked surprised and replied, “You’re still doing that? I only did it because my pan was too small to fit the whole sausage!”