Is This Really How Triscuits Got Their Name?
How much do you think about the snack cracker Triscuit? Other than, "What should I put on my Triscuit?" or, "I need to buy some Triscuits," probably not much at all, right? How about the name "Triscuit" itself — any idea where it comes from? Well, a guy named Sage Boggs on Twitter has thought about Triscuit and the origin of its name quite a bit.
As Boggs tells it, "Several years ago I was at a party (BRAG!), and I spotted a box of Triscuits. I asked everyone, 'What does the word 'Triscuit' mean? It's clearly based on the word 'BISCUIT,' but what does the 'TRI' mean?"
Everyone involved in the riveting conversation agreed that the "'Tri" clearly meant three-something, and theories such as three layers or three ingredients were obvious suggestions. After turning to the knowledge of Google and still coming up short, Boggs emailed Triscuit's maker Nabisco and got this response:
"Thank you for your interest in our Triscuit crackers. No business records survived which specifically explain the origins or inspiration for the name Triscuit. But we do know the name was chosen as a fun derivation of the word 'biscuit.' The 'TRI' does not mean 3."
Umm, okay? This almost sounds like Nabisco was playing mind games. As Boggs pointed out the "no business records survived" part was especially suspicious. "Did the building explode?" he queried. "Did someone run out of the doors and yell 'It doesn't mean THREE!' right before perishing in a giant blaze?"
The plot had really thickened.
The Triscuit secret dated back over 100 years
With way too much time on his hands, Boggs put on his investigative reporter hat and dug up an old advertisement that would pull back the curtain on Triscuit's name. As Boggs discovered, at the start of the 20th century, the Triscuit factory was at Niagra Falls and the iconic snack crackers were "baked by electricity," something that no other cracker maker was apparently doing at the time.
If this were a John Grisham novel, this would be the part where the protagonist uncovers the earth-shaking truth. "Elec-TRI-city Biscuit. TRISCUIT MEANS ELECTRICITY BISCUIT," Boggs tweeted. Is your jaw on the floor?
The whole mystery was pretty gripping for Twitter, with the thread getting well over 130,000 likes. Reactions, of course, varied from, "Wow. I would listen to this podcast," to "Most people just watch some tv or something."
The thing that really makes Boggs' dedication and research worthwhile is that Triscuit did finally confirm his theory. "We had to go all the way up the ladder but we CAN confirm," read Triscuit's tweet.
As for what happened at the Triscuit factory to destroy those business records... that mystery seems to be still unsolved.