There are a lot of things that humanity probably won’t ever know for sure, like why are we here, is there a life after death, and what’s the origin of the famous brand name of snack crackers—Triscuit?
Scratch that, actually, someone answered this age-old question, and to the surprise of many, the tri part in Triscuit does not, in fact, mean three. I’m as shocked as you are!
And no, the people at Triscuit didn’t know this until this one Tweeter figured it all out with the power of the internet, so enjoy his thread explaining the whole thing.
More Info: Twitter
Ever wondered what 'Triscuit' actually means? Would you be surprised if we told it's not '#3 plus biscuit'?
Image credits: sageboggs
So, Sage Boggs, a writer from New York City, was at a party and noticed a box of Triscuits. For those unaware, Triscuit is a brand name of various flavored whole wheat snack crackers produced by Nabisco, a subsidiary of the food and beverage giant Mondelēz International.
Upon seeing the box, Boggs had a thought: what does Triscuit mean, anyway? “It's clearly based on the word ‘BISCUIT,’ but what does the ‘TRI’ mean?” he elaborated in his tweet.
Well, this guy solved the mystery, and shared his discoveries with the internet
At a party, Sage Boggs raised the question and started figuring it all out
Image credits: sageboggs
The general consensus was that the tri part had something to do with the number 3. Perhaps it was three layers of something inside it, or there were three ingredients, but nobody was sure.
So, Google to the rescue. Or not? Turns out, Google didn’t have an official version either—it rather fueled the discussion with even more guesses and speculations.
Google wasn't too helpful, so he went straight to the source
Aaaand the source doesn't know. But at least they confirmed that it doesn't mean #3
Image credits: sageboggs
The next logical thing was to go straight to the source—Nabisco. The company producing that stuff should know, right? Wrong. Turns out, they had no records that would specifically explain the origins of the brand name. One thing was certain, though: they confirmed that it DOES NOT mean three.
“‘The ‘TRI’ does not mean 3.’ How... how do they know what it DOESN'T mean, but NOT know what it DOES mean? HOW??” was Boggs’ reaction (and many of ours, to be honest).
Image credits: sageboggs
This raised even more questions, but Boggs was determined and this short-lived dead end only fueled his ambitions to crack the case.
Further investigation into the history led Boggs to discover the key clue in the mystery—the box, specifically, the marketing blurbs found on the advertisements from the early 1900s. Turns out, these crackers were baked using electricity.
So, his journey continued and soon he found a key clue—ads from the early 1900s
Image credits: sageboggs
Turns out, they used to make these crackers using electricity—a novel process at the time
And that's when it hit him—it's elec-tri-city and biscuit
Image credits: sageboggs
“In the early 1900s, Triscuit was run out of Niagara Falls. And their big selling point? Being ‘baked by electricity.’ They were ‘the only food on the market prepared by this 1903 process.’ Look at the lightning bolts!”
And then it dawned on him. The tri in Triscuit doesn’t mean three for whatever reason—it comes from the word elec-tri-city. It’s an ‘electricity biscuit’!
Oh, it gets better as Triscuit themselves confirmed this and sent him some goodies for the research
Image credits: sageboggs
So, he shared his findings with Twitter, where it went super viral. The thread managed to receive nearly 180,000 likes with over 45,000 retweets. And the best part is that Triscuit took Boggs’ tweet and confirmed it, making this mystery of origin canon.
Oh, and Boggs is henceforth known as the Triscuit Guy and he also got a bunch of Triscuit boxes as a thank you for answering what the company itself never could.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you have any wild theories on what Triscuit could have meant? Let us know in the comment section below!
Here's how people reacted to this discovery
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