Nobody Can Agree On How Many “Chuggas” You Say Before “Choo-Choo”

Everyone who has any experience with a toddler knows that kids call trains “choo-choos” well before they think about using the word “locomotive.” But what about what comes before “choo-choo?” Just how many times are you supposed to say “chugga” before the grand finale of “choo-choo?” The answer is unclear and the debate is destroying the internet.

Last week, a Reddit user innocently asked the question: How many “chuggas” are you supposed to say before “choo choo”? To date, 27,000 people have upvoted this on Reddit and the question has over 3,000 comments. The point? No one can agree. However, there tend to be two camps.

The first camp says you say two “chuggas” before “choo-choo.” Which would look like this:

Chugga Chugga CHOO-CHOO

The second camp says you say three “chuggas” first, like so:

Chugga Chugga Chugga CHOO-CHOO

Bizarrely, as reported by BuzzFeed on Monday, there is still yet a third camp who believes you only say ONE “chugga.” Like this:

Chugga CHOO-CHOO

In the famous story The Little Engine That Could, the titular engine says “I think I can” over and over again until it arrives at its destination. That sentence is four syllables, which, would weirdly match with the same number of syllables as the one “Chugga” and then “Choo-Choo” theory. However, a 2001 book called Chugga Chugga Choo-Choo seems to suggest that the two Chugga rule is just fine.

There is an outlier to all of this though. One Redditor suggests that eight “chuggas” is required prior to “Choo Choo” that way, this matches the same number of “na-na-na’s” in th ’60s Batman theme song. But, I think any rational parent or caregiver knows eight “chuggas” is for lunatics.

One thing is for certain, once you start asking those around for an answer to this question, the air will become very noisy with a cacophony of chuggas. Which means the debate about chuggas will only produce more chuggas than anyone should ever have to hear before the sweet release of “choo-choo!”