How Many Holes Does a Straw Have? The Internet Can't Seem to Agree

Straws are wildly controversial. Seriously, just yell out the word "straw" the next time you're at a social gathering and see how the drinking tool divides the room.

For years, straws made from plastic have been villanized for their negative impact on the environment. But when paper straws were introduced as a more eco-friendly alternative, the complaints kept coming. "You know what needs to end? Paper straws because by the third sip, my straw is disintegrated," wrote @yankeesmobb on Twitter.

But we’re not here to discuss that today. We have another burning question at hand: How many holes does a straw have?

The internet has been trying to answer this seemingly simple but absolutely loaded question with a variety of memes and funny tweets. Apparently, the most popular answers are zero, one, or two holes. Keep scrolling to see why folks are so divided over this question.

Internet denizens have long debated over the number of openings in a straw. While the answer has yet to be confirmed by a reliable source (any straw experts out there?), it's led to the creation of some really funny content and not one but several contradicting answers.

Interest was recently renewed in the topic in August 2022 when the market research and data analytics firm YouGov polled its followers on straw holes on Twitter. The poll was also shared on Reddit, where more people could share their thoughts on this heated topic.

The results showed that 54 percent of people thought a straw had one hole, while 42 percent believed a straw had two holes. Meanwhile, four percent weren't sure.

Over the years, one and two holes have remained popular answers, as the poll reflected.

"There’s only one hole in a straw. Tt’s literally one hole. That’s what a straw is," tweeted user @uhnataliegreen, implying that the slurping device is just a single lengthy whole.

However, as @mtfitzpatrick reasoned on Twitter, "How do you insert something into an object with only one opening if you’re blocking the opening? A straw has two holes. It’s a hollow cylinder with holes on each end." Twitter user @bbbasedcell also backed the two-hole argument, but for a more practical reason. "Well the straw has two holes because there is the mouth and there is the butthole," he tweeted.

But there is also a faction of folks who believe that the straw doesn't have any holes. "It’s zero. A straw is simply a sheet of plastic (no holes) folded into a cylinder," argued Twitter user @richard_normal, implying that those openings are just part of its natural form.

So how many holes does a straw have? The answer remains unknown. I guess we'll just have to draw straws over it.