A Parent’s Guide to 6-7
Dictionary.com just named it Word of the Year. Most adults have either never heard of it or have no idea what it means. Schools are banning its use. And Gen Z and Gen Alpha are having a laugh at the rest of us. I’m talking about 6-7.
I have to admit, as an English teacher, I love this stuff. I long ago accepted the reality that language is fluid and evolving and that we logophiles have two options: wring our hands and whine or get on board and enjoy the ride.
Why, you might ask, did Dictionary.com name 6-7 its Word of the Year? Well, keep in mind that dictionaries love to provoke controversy with these declarations. The more shocking and provocative, the more web traffic. And what could be more controversial than giving the title of Word of the Year to a couple of numbers? But the less cynical answer is that 6-7 really has become an interesting cultural phenomenon and has provoked lots of academic discussion about the growing influence of social media on language.
So, what does 6-7 mean? Good question. I’ll take a stab at it.
It apparently started last summer with a viral mashup video of NBA player LaMelo Ball and the song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Skrilla. This then sparked an inexplicable wave of Tik Tok videos by young teens that more or less creatively involved 6-7. The fact that no one really knows what it means—especially adults— is the inside joke part of its appeal.
Sometimes it’s used as a synonym for so-so or middle-of-the-road and usually includes hand gestures like juggling. But not always. And that’s where it gets really goofy.
The truth is, it doesn’t really mean anything. Or it can mean anything. It’s what some are calling a social marker. In other words, its definition doesn’t matter. It’s simply a signal of the user’s social literacy or cultural rizz.
This vagueness, coupled with its immense popularity with middle schoolers, makes the expression vexing to adults. So vexing, in fact, that teachers and schools across the country have been reportedly banning it. Seriously. Like that’s going to work.
I had a lively discussion with an online middle school class about 6-7 recently. Here are some things I learned.
Students are about evenly split between finding it hilarious and being annoyed by it.
The annoyed ones have made it clear that it has run its course and will be out of style soon.
Students tended to agree that while it was a fun inside joke for a while, it is now used primarily as “rage bait”—just a way to provoke people who don’t like it.
This last point led to an interesting and productive discussion of rage baiting, which has become part of our culture far beyond the world of pre-teens. We all seemed to agree that there’s something perverse about doing things and saying stuff with the sole purpose of getting an angry reaction out of others.
So, if you find yourself unable to appreciate the joke that, at heart, 6-7 is, I strongly suggest you do your best to ignore it. Getting a strong reaction from adults is pretty much the point, so the more irritated you get, the more likely you are to fuel the fire. Just roll your eyes and ignore it, and it will go away.
Or you can speed the demise of 6-7 by using it yourself. Nothing will wreck a juvenile craze faster than parents adopting it themselves. Trust me, if you start inserting 6-7 into conversations with your middle schoolers, it will stop being cool very quickly
Like most slang among youth today, 6-7 will have a short shelf-life. By the time you read this article, kids will probably already be saying 6-7 is washed, cheugy, dusty, rizzless, and out of drip.