The word “sinister” refers to something troubling or wicked, but in Latin the word sinister also means “on the left side.” Conversely, the Latin word dextera means “on the right side” and this root is where we get words like dexterous and dexterity. Probably because being left handed is less common than being right handed, there has historically been a consensus that favoring your left is bad. Right is right, left is wrong. Of course, in reality there’s not a real difference between being right handed and left handed, and today we know that. But can the same be said about candy?
Twix, the iconic chocolate from Mars Inc., is a perennial favorite and, dare I say, a slightly more sophisticated choice than your average bar. The cookie crunch makes Twix slightly less sweet and more filling than the sugariest, teeth-hurting treats on the market. The chocolate was introduced in 1967 in the town of Slough, England, and famously comes with two pieces, which can make you feel like you’re getting a little extra bang for your buck. However, ever since its inception there’s always been a cloud of mystery to this product. To wit, are left and right Twix different from each other? The truth is out there—let’s find it.
Why does Twix have left and right?
The reason Twix has left and right is because there are two Twix bars in every package, so there is inherently a left option and a right option. I suppose we could actually think about them as a “front” Twix and a “back” Twix, but let’s not get more confusing than we need to here.
What are right and left Twix?
Twix’s clever marketing department came up with the idea of pitting the two candy bars within a Twix package against each other. This is pretty smart because humans inherently love rooting for a specific “team.” You know this if you’ve ever seen a coffee place or ice cream shop with two tip jars—say, one for “socks” and one for “bare feet.” These jars are much more likely to be overflowing than if there was simply a jar for “I love socks.” Go Team Socks!
What does left and right mean on Twix?
Despite some marketing to the contrary, don’t worry about eating the wrong Twix. The left side and the right side are identical except for their placement. It’s just a fun marketing gimmick to create a division between the two. Besides, if you flip the packaging around, the left Twix becomes right and the right Twix becomes left. Did I just blow your mind?
So, what is the difference between right and left Twix?
Or, to put it another way, what is the difference between left and right Twix? According to Twix themselves, the right side is “smooth caramel flowed onto crispy cookie and bathed in chocolate” while the left Twix is “crunchy cookies cascaded with soft caramel and cloaked in milk chocolate.” So, there you go. Pretty different. Actually, if you look closely at these descriptions you may notice that they’re basically saying the same thing. The right is like the left, which is like the right, which is like the left. Got it?
Are left and right Twix different or not?
The simple answer is no. That said, there are some Reddit threads that contend, “The left Twix starts as a cookie, then it’s covered in caramel and dipped in chocolate. The right Twix starts as chocolate and someone carefully pushes the cookie inside, using caramel to prevent the cookie from crumbling.” Make of this what you will.
Whether left and right Twix are different (they’re not) or completely identical (they are), we may never know for sure. But wherever you land on this question, it’s clear that both sides are equally delicious (because they’re the same).
