Forget TikTok dances and viral challenges—this year’s Word of the Year is literally just numbers. That’s right: “6-7” (pronounced six-seven) has officially broken the internet and taken over Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang.
Named Dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year, “6-7” is intentionally vague and mostly meaningless. Its humour comes from the sheer nonsense of it—and from the fact that only those in the know understand it.
Where Did 6-7 Even Come From?
The phrase started with the December 2024 rap song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Philadelphia rapper Skrilla, who admits the lyric has no meaning. Social media users quickly paired the song with videos of NBA player LaMelo Ball, who is 6’7”, and a viral clip of the “67 Kid” at a basketball game shouting six-seven with a distinctive hand gesture. By early 2025, the trend exploded on TikTok and Instagram Reels, spreading far beyond the basketball world.
How It’s Used
Nonsense reply: Respond to anything with “6-7” and watch adults get confused.
Number spotting: Shout it when the number 67 appears anywhere.
So-so gesture: Move your palms up and down while saying it to mean “maybe this, maybe that.”
The charm? It literally means nothing, yet it signals membership in the meme-savvy “in-group.”
Kids and Teens Speak
Ten-year-old Harry and his friend Finn can’t remember exactly where they first heard it. “Probably YouTube… something about a basketball player,” says Harry. His mum Viki noticed the trend reach her kids around September 2025, showing how US internet culture trickles down to UK schoolyards in under a year.
University students are also riding the meme—but ironically. Reuben Baines, 18, says, “When a parent or teacher uses our generation’s slang it’s cringe. At uni, it’s funny because everyone gets it, but it’s so bad it’s good.”
Experts Weigh In
Tony Thorne, director of the Slang and New Language Archive at King’s College London, explains that memes like 6-7 are vital to youth culture. “They create a secret language that outsiders—parents, teachers, authority figures—can’t understand,” he says. “It’s about bonding and expressing identity, even if it looks silly to older generations.”
Is 6-7 Over Already?
Possibly. Younger kids are catching on, and older generations trying to use it are making it desperately uncool. Ten-year-old Harry admits, “I’ve got bored now that the little ones are picking it up. I want to ban it.”
Like most viral slang, 6-7 has a shelf-life. But for now, it remains a perfect example of the playful absurdity of Gen Z and Gen Alpha culture—a meme about a meme, shared in numbers, gestures, and a sing-song voice that adults just can’t quite grasp.
So next time you hear a kid yell “six-seven”, just smile and nod… but don’t try to join in. You’ll probably ruin it.
