Every generation brings a new sense of humor and new turns of phrases that the generation before might have a hard time understanding.
One phrase that seems to make Gen-Z and those younger giggle is ‘six seven’, but it has the older generations really stumped.
What does the term 6-7 mean
The phrase “six-seven,” often written as “6-7,” has taken over social media, especially TikTok, leaving younger users in stitches while older folks scratch their heads in confusion.
So what does it actually mean? Well… nothing. And that’s exactly why it’s so hilarious to Gen Z and Gen Alpha. There are already over 1.1 million TikTok videos using the joke, while older generations remain baffled.
Its origins trace back to hip-hop artist Skrilla, who dropped the song Doot Doot in December 2024. In it, he raps, “6-7, I just bipped right on the highway (bip, bip),” sparking the trend. TikTok teacher and self-proclaimed “OG Student Translator” Mr. Lindsay explained, “It has blown up even more. Kids these days will respond with ‘six-seven’ to anything—from ‘what is that smell?’ to ‘what time is it?’”
He added for the older crowd, “So, all of this to say, ‘six seven’ is just a reference to a meme. There’s no real meaning to it. It is a number that is fun to say… with the hand motions, and it just doesn’t mean anything.”
But teachers aren’t as amused. The trend has disrupted classrooms so badly that some educators have banned it outright. Elementary school teacher Kaitlyn Biernacki recalled a recent math lesson: as she drew a bar graph and asked how many votes a cheetah got, a student shouted “six”—only for the entire class to erupt with “6-7,” drowning out the lesson. Biernacki gave them a “side-eye” and said, “Nice try,” continuing the lesson despite the chaos.
Other teachers have shared similar frustrations online. Eighth-grade science teacher @mscollaketeaches posted a meme showing a frustrated person, captioned: “Teachers hearing ‘6-7’ for the 100,000th time after a long day of overstimulation. No seriously I’m gonna start kicking people out.”
Some educators are taking more drastic action. A middle school teacher told Reddit, “I’m an 8th-grade teacher, and I am so done hearing it that I just banned it from my classroom. You can’t say the two numbers in a row without the class bursting out in a chorus of ‘6-7.’ It was funny at first, but now it’s just old and continually interrupts many class conversations.”
