A: No thanks to that animated owl and his woeful lack of willpower, this question has plagued the American public ever since the commercial first aired in 1970. Fortunately, there have been plenty of noble efforts to get to the bottom (or center, as the case may be) of it all.
Unfortunately, the answer depends on who you ask. A group of students at Swarthmore Junior High conducted an extensive study on the subject and concluded that getting to the center of a Tootsie Pop took a statistical average of 144 licks. However, the more ambitious and distrusting engineering students at Purdue University chose instead to rely on a “licking machine” modeled after the human tongue for their results. The Boilermakers found it took an average of 364 licks. And while other studies have been done, all the results vary. So in the end, only one thing is certain: The world may never know.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Matthew T. Sussman
"a 'licking machine' "
Did they wheel that thing over to the sorority when they were done?
2 - T. Michael Testi
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 - Ray
Lmfao that's great.
4 - Stephanie
im bored
5 - Who even reads this dumb stuff
this sucks
-___-
I'm supposed to this dumb question for the science fair!!
I did this last year and it took like 2,254 licks
6 - john
i did it and it took one billion
7 - john
christopher whiteside is cool
8 - montgomery
does it really take 364 licks
9 - mongomery
screw my tootis pop please be my ' LICKING MACHINE '
10 - donte
it takes 2073 to get to the center of a totsie pop
11 - Holden Mcgroin
I licked a tootsie pop 562 times to get to the center tootsie roll;) I practice licking my girlfriend and have very good technique....so i guess it might take the average joe a few more licks.
12 - Theycallmejesus
It takes a lot less time if u just put the fucker in your mouth and eat it. Took me one crunch. ;p
13 - sierra seward
i gave up and chewed it! Sorry to disipoint!
14 - nina
It took like 591 licks and my tougn hurts
15 - Brittnee Yutzy
kevin trasp is so sexy bitch.....
16 - Silas Kain
Wow, some of these comments are kind of shocking to see on such an intelligent site. Notice the men who seem to lick the most are probably very shortchanged in the other department if you catch my drift. He who has a tootsie midget usually licks the most.
17 - alexander wilkins
it takes exactly 1279 licks till u hit the middle
18 - anonomous
I had 2 do this 4 my science fair project =(
19 - aykay
Listen there. Is no exact answer because everyones tongue is different. texture and wetness come intto play then size and shape and let's not forget every tootsie pop is different one crack can subtract ten licks so give it up lames ... And if you have to talk about lickin your girl your not doin your job in bed get some. Legends are known for being in the game not talkin about it ... Idiots
20 - Sam
I agree with aykay, I assume most of you who've mention girls and licking anything other then a Tootsie Pop (which IS the SUBJECT here, no one wants to know your sex-lives) are all possibly below the age of 15. Anyways, yeah, it's practically IMPOSSIBLE to know exactly "how many licks" it takes "to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop" because everyone's different and no one really has the exact same mouth or touge. Lol yeah anonomous (the guy/girl before aykay) I have to do this for my AP Statistics class. I didnt actually do it though, I just went online and averaged the numbers I got to get 429...Fuuuck that =D
21 - jake
4343 im not a lier i am a nerd about
to go to harbor belive me
22 - pizza girl
im doin this for fun
23 - pizza girl
okay.... i counted and it took 2,259 licks to get to the center... i have several cuts on my tongue... but it was worth it!!!!
24 - pizza girl
mr.vanskiver is proud of my hard work
25 - me
actually, i just ATE it. hold your applause.