A twinkiesmoot is a
unit of measure which describes the rate of production of Twinkies, the famous snack cake. As of 2009, the rate of production of Twinkies is
60,000 per hour; thus, 1 twinkiesmoot is 60,000 per hour.
The Twinkiesmoot is named in honor of
Oliver R. Smoot. While a student at M.I.T. in 1958, Smoot lay down on the Massachusetts Avenue bridge between Cambridge and
Boston, Massachusetts. His length was measured and that length became known in M.I.T.
lore as 1 smoot. The term has become widely known and Google Earth offers it as an optional
unit of measure. Note that since the twinkiesmoot is a measure of the rate of production, and the smoot is a measure of distance, the two are related in name only.
A related term is "nanotwinkiesmoot." A nanotwinkiesmoot describes the rate of consumption of twinkies by an individual
person. 1 nanotwinkiesmoot equals 1 billionth of a smoot, or 0.00006 twinkiesmoots.
The two terms have entered general usage in the
Boston, Massachusetts area. It is generally believed to have been coined by a student of the M.I.T. business school.
Alice ate 12
Twinkies in half an hour yesterday. Since 1 twinkiesmoot is 60,000 per hour, she ate them at a
speed of 144 nanotwinkiesmoots!
