Who in the Western World hasn’t herd of the viral – almost chaotic – highschoolers’ ‘6-7’ phenom-enon? It’s now spreading to the outside world – specifically via the Fast Food vector. Many brands have removed any reference to ‘6-7’ from their operations…
At risk of being repetitive, I have to open this dissertation with the observation that NOBODY – not even the kids who use the phrase – is sure about what ‘6-7’ means.
Wikipedia only says: “6-7 (pronounced ‘six seven‘; also written as 67, 6 7, and 6, 7), is a […] slang term that emerged in 2025 on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and then later spread to YouTube Shorts. It has no fixed meaning.”
Google AI goes further, though: ” ‘6-7′ (pronounced ‘six seven’) is a popular internet slang term and meme, especially among Gen Alpha and Gen Z, that is intentionally nonsensical and has no fixed meaning. Its use is an inside joke designed to create a sense of shared understanding among young people and often to confuse adults.”
Strictly a 2025 development, Dictionary.com chose ‘6-7’ as it’s word of the year.
The ‘meme’, as a number of authorities call it, first arose in high schools… Wikipedia records:
“The phrase originated from the song ‘Doot Doot (6 7)‘ by Skrilla, which became popular in video edits featuring professional basketball players, especially LaMelo Ball (see photo, top of page), who is listed at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 meters) tall. The meme was further popularized through Overtime Elite player Taylen “TK” Kinney‘s repeated use of the phrase.
“In March, 2025, a boy named Maverick Trevillian became known as the ’67 Kid’ after a viral video showed him yelling the term at a basketball game while performing an excited hand gesture.”
Whatever the real story is, the phenomenon itself has quickly outgrown its roots.
Fast Food mayhem…
The Fast Food industry has recently become a focus of ‘6-7’ devotées. Several Fast Food brands have had to quietly remove ‘6-7’ from their menus and signage to avoid hordes of teenagers hanging around their stores, not buying anything, but breaking out in riotous may-hem when anyone says ‘6-7’.
People magazine reports that the popular west coast eatery In ‘N Out (INO) – which uses numbered-ticket order management – has had to remove ’67’ from it’s system. Also the number ’69’, according to an anony-mous INO staffer at a Los Angeles INO confirmed. But that’s a different story for another day.
My take
Note: For those of British extraction out there: It seems ‘6-7’ has minimal,only coincidental relation-ship to the old English expression ‘at sixes and sevens’, meaning, “to be in a state of confusion or disorder. It describes a situation lacking in order, neatness, or clarity, such as a chaotic household, a disorganized office, or a team with poor coordination.” And IT goes back to the 16th century – to Chaucer and Shakespeare…
I’d have predicted this silly, meaningless meme would have a short, albeit tumultuous, existence. Except it’s been hanging on like a linguistic leech on the fringes of our already challenged culture for several months, now. Alas… As often happens, I suspect ‘6-7’ will only disappear when another teen meme of equal or greater power displaces it…
~ Maggie J.