A woman says she was close to “crashing out” after her Chipotle quesadilla order took a tumble in her car. But she refrained from doing that when she remembered the “burnt toast theory.”
TikToker Mackenzie Carr (@mackenziecarr02) used the theory to reframe her seemingly unlucky moment.
Her video features fresh tomato salsa, white rice, and corn salsa all over the middle console of her vehicle. Her quesadilla appears intact on its cardboard plate. However, it’s sitting on the car floor of the passenger side.
“Trying not to freak out about my chipotle spilling ALL over my car… but the burnt toast theory,” the text overlay on her video, which has nearly 1 million views, reads.
What is the “Burnt Toast Theory”?
Her clip is teaching the masses what “burnt toast theory” is. “Wait this is the first I’ve heard of the burnt toast theory. I’m obsessed ??????!” one user who looked up the theory wrote.
The burnt toast theory is the theory that a minor inconvenience you experience saves you from an even bigger tragedy.
For example, if you burn your toast in the morning and have to remake it, the extra time it took you to remake it will postpone your leaving time. And that will potentially save you from a car accident that you would have gotten in had you made the toast correctly the first time and been on time.
Real-life example
One oft-cited real-life example of this is all the people who missed their flights on 9/11. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane was reportedly too hungover to make his flight, American Airlines Flight 11. He said he missed his flight by only 10 minutes. That plane was one of the two that struck the World Trade Center.
Many people have chalked up that instance and others like it to the “burnt toast theory,” which is essentially the belief in divine intervention.
At the very least, it’s a positive way of thinking about the minor inconveniences of life.
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