There is an adage that it’s time to sell a stock when a taxi driver is talking about it, and I suppose it’s the same with slang. That if a middle-aged newspaper editor is talking about a new phrase by a younger generation, it’s had its day.
So it may be with the phrase 6-7. Or is it six-seven? Doesn’t matter. It wasn’t intended to be written about, or really analyzed. It started with LaMelo Ball, a basketball player who is 6 feet 7 inches, and popularized through a song “Doot Doot (6 7) by Skrilla, which featured basketball players, or maybe is started with the song. Either way, there was a song with 6-7 and Ball is 6’7” and there was a viral meme, and then it took off into its own life.
Middle school teachers who taught sixth and seventh periods were the first adults to learn of this phrase, then any time the words six, or seven, were spoken, 6-7 was the immediate response by groups or gangs or however you want to phrase it.
It popped into the mainstream when Merriam-Websters tried to define it: “A nonsensical slang term popularized by teens and tweens, often without a specific meaning and used as an inside joke.”
Others attempted to say it meant someone was doing “meh” because it was accompanied by a gesture in which it appeared someone was weighing two items in each hand. But that’s not it. Adults seek to define, the kids just think it’s fun.
And it is. I’ve seen the videos of large groups of kids at an In-N-Out waiting for order 67. My favorite is when order 68 comes out first and a solo kid shuffles to pick up his order sheepishly. Then order 67 comes out and it’s bedlam and excitement. Maybe it’s annoying for some, but if it is, you really have to think about why?
It’s easy to say it’s dumb, and evidence that youth are addicted to their screens and how words and phrases don’t make any sense anymore, I mean skibidi toilet sigma rizz is not a pejorative, but rather high praise for someone who can “pull” an intended romantic partner or is just good at charming others. C’mon Labubu, continuing to use the parlance of our youth, it’s not that deep. Low key.
Besides, this isn’t the first generation to use vernacular mysterious to other generations. Slay queen and bussin’ became cheugy after all, and that was only Gen Z. Millennials were shook when they took to adulting but YOLO and FOMO went from lit to sus. And as a Gen X I feel like I should recall something more than Audi 5000 to bounce, but that’s all I got.
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I think some people may have said rad or totally, but I didn’t know them. Boomers, you’re on your own with groovy and far out. The Greatest Generation probably said things like scram or swell. And the Silent Generation? Not a peep. Which makes them the bee’s knees or the cat’s meow in my book.
So now we have 6-7, which means nothing, but it is strides better than the weird vandalism trends of stealing sinks, toilet seats or soap out of school or public restrooms or eating Tide Pods, based on TikTok videos. I think the ice bucket challenge fits into this somewhere, but not really sure.
Besides, there is no turning back. We will continue to be plagued by odd trends based on viral videos like eating large amounts of cinnamon, licking random things, exploring abandoned buildings, putting wax on your face, putting things that should not go into electrical outlets into electrical outlets, jumping up and having your outfit change when you land on a video (seems strenuous), and even singing sea shanty songs.
The last one seems pretty fun, but all the others seem dangerous and weird.
Trends are nothing new, and can range from fun and appealing to dangerous and strange. It’s just easier to tap into it because of ubiquity. But it’s also harder to track since trends can be mysterious at first, then viral, then shut down when adults catch attention.
Stealing a toilet seat is a really stupid thing to do, but it could seem fun until you get pulled into the school office and a news reporter is writing about this new emerging and dangerous trend.
So I will take 6-7 any day of the week and all day long. We don’t have to get it, and no one is meant to get it, and while many people tend to down the kids for being silly and nonsensical, maybe they have it right. It’s fun to have fun, and if a number gets you going, why not?
Thanks, Mr. Mays. for your column today which reminds me of recent articles discussing highlights (or should I say lowlights) from the UCSD Senate Admissions Working Group (SAWG) report (https://senate.ucsd.edu/media/740347/sawg-report-on-admissions-review-docs.pdf). I recommend folks search for “UCSD Senate Admissions Working Group (SAWG) report” to obtain links to numerous articles summarizing findings if one isn’t in the mood to review the entire report.
As a teaser, I’ll borrow from the SAWG report’s Executive Summary:
“Over the past five years, UC San Diego has experienced a steep decline in the academic preparation of its entering first-year students -- particularly in mathematics, but also in writing and language skills. Between 2020 and 2025, the number of students whose math skills fall below middle-school level increased nearly thirtyfold, reaching roughly one in eight members of the entering cohort. This deterioration coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on education, the elimination of standardized testing, grade inflation, and the expansion of admissions from under-resourced high schools. The combination of these factors has produced an incoming class increasingly unprepared for the quantitative and analytical rigor expected at UC San Diego.”
Where are the parents? Perhaps instead of kids making up nonsensical words or memes and then trying to assign definitions to them or celebrate them, they should concentrate on foundational math and English because these foundations have been around much longer than made up words and memes and these foundations will take them successfully to places they may not have dreamed about yet. As for fun, I’d recommend they do their homework first and then go outside and count the stars or go to Hollywood and count the stars. But first, they meed to learn to count. BTW, I wasn’t able to quickly find the test (and answer key) that UCSD administered but it’d be interesting to know how adults would score.
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Thanks, Mr. Mays. for your column today which reminds me of recent articles discussing highlights (or should I say lowlights) from the UCSD Senate Admissions Working Group (SAWG) report (https://senate.ucsd.edu/media/740347/sawg-report-on-admissions-review-docs.pdf). I recommend folks search for “UCSD Senate Admissions Working Group (SAWG) report” to obtain links to numerous articles summarizing findings if one isn’t in the mood to review the entire report.
As a teaser, I’ll borrow from the SAWG report’s Executive Summary:
“Over the past five years, UC San Diego has experienced a steep decline in the academic preparation of its entering first-year students -- particularly in mathematics, but also in writing and language skills. Between 2020 and 2025, the number of students whose math skills fall below middle-school level increased nearly thirtyfold, reaching roughly one in eight members of the entering cohort. This deterioration coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on education, the elimination of standardized testing, grade inflation, and the expansion of admissions from under-resourced high schools. The combination of these factors has produced an incoming class increasingly unprepared for the quantitative and analytical rigor expected at UC San Diego.”
Where are the parents? Perhaps instead of kids making up nonsensical words or memes and then trying to assign definitions to them or celebrate them, they should concentrate on foundational math and English because these foundations have been around much longer than made up words and memes and these foundations will take them successfully to places they may not have dreamed about yet. As for fun, I’d recommend they do their homework first and then go outside and count the stars or go to Hollywood and count the stars. But first, they meed to learn to count. BTW, I wasn’t able to quickly find the test (and answer key) that UCSD administered but it’d be interesting to know how adults would score.
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