I Choo-Choo-Choose You

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About

I Choo-Choo-Choose You refers to the Valentine's Day card given to Ralph Wiggum by Lisa Simpson in The Simpsons which features a train saying "I choo-choo-choose you" with a smile.

Origin

On February 11th, 1993, season four episode 15 of The Simpsons titled "I Love Lisa" aired on the Fox network.^[1] The episode contains a scene in which Lisa gives Ralph a valentines card out of pity (shown below).

Spread

On February 13th, 2009, the Valentine's Day card scene was first uploaded to YouTube.^[5] On April 21st, 2012, Tumblr user mayoneighs^[3] uploaded a demotivational poster with using an image of the scene with the caption "that awkward moment when Ralph Wiggum gets more action than you on Valentine's Day" (shown below, left). Since the episode aired various sites and artists began selling prints and Valentine's Day card similar to the one Lisa gives Ralph (shown below, right).^[4]

On February 28th, 2015, YouTuber MashAllPotatos edited the card into a The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya scene which received over 5,500 views in four years (shown below).

On February 13th, 2017, executive producer Al Jean revealed that the card was inspired by one he received in third grade: "It was from a girl in my class and she had handwritten 'I really do choo-choo-choose you'. The fact that it is now the most famous Valentine in history flabbergasts me. I'm amazed and honoured at its status. After the episode first aired, I actually heard from a third-grade 'college' mate of mine who said he'd remembered that Valentine card."^[2]

Hazel Chu's Campaign

On May 19th, 2019, Irish Green Party candidate Hazel Chu running for Dublin city council noticed people photoshopping her face into the Valentine's Day card. She tweeted, "Spotted this on @iresimpsonsfans Facebook page. I FINALLY made it!! YAS!!
I shall be using these for my next campaign (no I'm not kidding)" (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 1,000 likes in a week. On May 25th, Chu became the first Green candidate to be elected in the country. On May 27th, Twitter user @iresimpsonsfans posted a screenshot of Chu thanking the Simpsons fFacebook fan page for the memes (shown below, right). The tweet gained over 2,200 likes and 100 retweets in two days.