Are there more doors or wheels in the world? Ridiculous internet debate explained

Whether you’re Team Doors or Team Wheels, both sides have valid arguments - but which one is correct?
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If there’s one thing that the internet absolutely loves, it’s a good debate and, ideally, the more ridiculous the better.

For many, where you fall on one side of the argument becomes a piece of who you are - were you a diehard black and blue dress, or were you a gold and white believer? Team Laurel or Team Yanny?

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One question tearing social media apart will have you declaring your allegiance to doors or wheels.

What’s the debate?

The question that everyone appears to have been debating online recently is this: are there more doors or wheels in the world?

It all began when, on 5 March, a Twitter user named Ryan Nixon tweeted: “My mates and I are having the STUPIDEST debate… And I am here for it.

“Do you think there are more doors or wheels in the world?”

Included in his tweet was a poll, prompting fellow users to vote on their answer - doors or wheels?

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The tweet has since garnered nearly 4,000 retweets, almost 3,000 quote tweets, over 11,000 likes and the poll attracted over 220,000 overall votes.

So… what’s the answer?

Unlike the previously mentioned dress debate and the Laurel versus Yanny debacle, there isn’t really a hard and fast correct answer here - or rather, there is a correct answer, but having humanity come together to do a mass count of doors and wheels seems unlikely.

By contrast, the original picture of the infamous dress confirmed that the answer was, in fact, black and blue, and the Laurel and Yanny audio clip was playing a recording of both names at the same time, so both answers were technically correct.

However, this hasn’t stopped passionate debaters picking a side of the doors versus wheels argument and declaring it as the hill that they will die on.

So what are people saying?

The argument for wheels

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As it stands, wheels appear to be the answer favoured by the majority of people - but only just. The results of the Twitter poll showed that wheels just edged out doors with 53.6% of votes, versus the remaining 46.4%.

One person tweeted: “Who is voting doors??? There’s wheels on everything. I have wheels on my garment rack, makeup storage holder, rubbish bin. It’s definitely wheels.”

Are you Team Wheels? (Photo: Adobe Stock)Are you Team Wheels? (Photo: Adobe Stock)
Are you Team Wheels? (Photo: Adobe Stock)

Another wrote: “Hospitals have waaaaay more wheels than doors. WAY more. Every IV stand has 3-4 wheels. Every bed, gurney, operating table, EKG machine, cart to carry laundry or food trays, charting laptops, wheels, wheels, wheels.”

“Every drawer with a runner (like a kitchen drawer) has four wheels. A car has four wheels on the floor, but it also has any number of cogs and wheels involved in its engine (not to forget the steering wheel and spare). My living room has at least 62 wheels, just 5 doors,” wrote another.

The argument for doors

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While doors appear to be the underdog answer, that hasn’t stopped people from arguing their case.

One person tweeted: “It’s clearly doors. Almost every person lives in a place with doors. Not everyone has a car. Even cars have as many doors as wheels. Not to mention cupboards.”

Or are you Team Doors all the way? (Photo: Adobe Stock)Or are you Team Doors all the way? (Photo: Adobe Stock)
Or are you Team Doors all the way? (Photo: Adobe Stock)

Another wrote: “Doors. Four door cars and trucks nullify themselves. All ships have doors, no wheels. All buildings have doors, no wheels. Doors.”

“Doors. Pretty much everything with wheels has doors, except bikes. Anyone who owns something with wheels will live in a building whose doors outnumber their wheels. Eg I own 10 wheels (2 cars, 1 bike) but 28 doors,” wrote another.

What is the dictionary definition of ‘door’ and ‘wheel’?

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While the simplicity of the question has left many asking what counts as a wheel (is a cog a wheel?) and what counts as a door (is a garden gate a door?), this is what the Cambridge Dictionary has to say:

  • Door: “a flat object that is used to close the entrance of something such as a room or building, or the entrance itself”
  • Wheel: “a circular object connected at the centre to a bar, used for making vehicles or parts of machines move”

Have your say

So what will it be - wheels or doors?

Have your say on the NationalWorld Twitter poll.

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