Perl operators come in three arities: unary, binary, and trinary (or ternary, if your native tongue is Shibboleth).
From the Camel Book. Chapter 3 Unary and Binary Operators.
It is a play on words

From www.webster.com
One entry found for ternary.
Main Entry: ternary

Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin ternarius, from terni three each; akin to Latin tres three -- more at THREE Date: 15th century
1 a : of, relating to, or proceeding by threes b : having three elements, parts, or divisions : THREEFOLD c : arranged in threes <ternary petals>
2 : using three as the base <a ternary logarithm>
3 a : being or consisting of an alloy of three elements b : of, relating to, or containing three different elements, atoms, radicals, or groups <sulfuric acid is a ternary acid>
4 : third in order or rank

What the great one is saying is that the word is ternary but logically in English language it is similiar to unicycle, bicycle and tricycle. Plus it sounds like tried any but all and all just a play with the words for humour.

Edit by tye, change some < to &lt; -- esp. <a ...>