Have you seen someone on social media shouting “six-seveeeeen” with their hands in the air and an inexplicable smile? Don’t worry: you’re not losing your mind or getting into the weird side of TikTok (well, maybe a little). It is the new meme that is sweeping the Alpha Generation, and it is repeated so many times that it seems like a collective invocation. Nobody knows what it means, and that’s the funny thing.
But here we want to know its origin. If we follow the trail it takes us to December 2024, when the rapper Skrilla released the song “Doot Doot (6 7)”. According to The Wall Street Journalthe “6-7” of the track refers to Philadelphia’s 67th Street, where many of his friends grew up. But within weeks, the internet hijacked the number and stripped it of any context.
The next protagonist was Taylen Kinney, a 17-year-old point guard in the Overtime Elite league. In a video with teammatesKinney rated a Starbucks drink by saying, “Like a six… six… six-seven,” while moving his hands as if weighing two options. That simple reaction —explains The New York Times— was uploaded to TikTok, and within a month it was a cultural symbol. Kinney gained over a million followers, launched his brand “Mr. 67” and up to a “6-7” canned water line.
12 years old. But the definitive explosion came with a 12-year-old boy, Maverick Trevillian, nicknamed “the 6-7 boy.” At a basketball tournament organized by content creators, he shouted the phrase with such enthusiasm that became an instant meme. “Kids say ‘6-7’ every second of every day,” admitted to The Washington Posta medium that interviewed him along with his parents.
From there, the cry jumped from phones to real life: teachers suffer from it, parents prohibit it, and even South Park dedicated an episode to the phenomenon.
And what does it mean? If you’re trying to look for a hidden meaning, stop doing it: there isn’t one. “6-7 is a joke without a punchline, a joke without logic”, explains CNN. It is the typical occurrence that spreads precisely because it makes no sense. “Nobody knows what it means and that’s the funny thing,” said an American professor to the same medium.
For some, it is a kind of generational secret language. As linguist Gail Fairhurst points outusing the meme is a form of belonging: if you know when to say it, you are within the group; If not, you’re out. The absurd works as an emotional password. Euronews defines it forcefully: “It means nothing. Absolutely nothing.” Although some children use it to qualify things (“Taylor Swift’s new album is a 6-7“), the consensus is that its value is in its emptiness. It is, as Skrilla himself would say: “An energy without explanation.”
And, of course, the adults are baffled. “Teachers avoid saying six or seven in class, it’s like throwing catnip at cats,” a Texan teacher joked in The Wall Street Journal.
Alpha memes: the evolution of absurdity. Each generation had its way of confusing adults. Millennials invented digital sarcasm; Generation Z embraced the nihilistic irony of “Skibidi Toilet“. But Generation Alpha has gone further: its humor is defined by total incomprehensibility.
The linguist Salvatore Attardo, quoted by The Washington Postmaintains that “the mechanisms of humor have not changed since Greece; what has changed is the format.” What were once comic novels are now ten-second videos or two shouted numbers. From Euronews They point out that this nonsense as a reaction to contemporary chaos: in an overwhelming world, shouting “6-7” is a form of joyful rebellion. There is no cynicism, no political message: just the joy of not having to explain anything.
And, in a way, that fits with today’s digital zeitgeist. Memes have become “cultural glue” for a decade: from “Let’s calm down” to “Chill Guy”, each one reflects the psychology of its time. If the “Chill Guy” embodied zen calm In the face of burnout, “6-7” represents total surrender to fun chaos.
Although it’s not the first time. In reality, shouting out random numbers has an illustrious history. The Washington Post compares “6-7” to the enigmatic “23 Skiddoo!”an expression that swept the United States between 1905 and 1906. Nobody knew what it meant, but everyone repeated it. More than a century later, the “Ok, Boomer” marked another generational boundary: a subtle (or not so subtle) way of saying “you wouldn’t understand.”
The difference is that “6-7” doesn’t mean anything about anything. No criticism, no irony, no message. It is a shared void, a community joke. Generation Alpha didn’t invent the trend of adopting a random number as a motto. It only perfected the idea that meaninglessness can unite us.
Adults react (and kill the meme). As always, the adults arrived late. Guardian I already warned: “As soon as the media talks about it, the meme is dead.” Some American schools have banned saying “6-7” in class. Other teachers, resigned, use it to neutralize it: “The best way to kill a meme is for adults to say it,” said a linguist.
And while analysts classify it as an example of “brain rot”we can do another different reading. It is a linguistic game, a form of belonging as innocent as saying “ola k ase” more than ten years ago. In the words of comedian Josh Pray: “I’m trying to get our numbers back before I turn 67 and they yell at me in the street.”
A legacy of meaninglessness. Perhaps in a few months “6-7” will disappear, replaced by another number (“41” and “93” are already circulating, according to Know Your Meme). But his brief reign says a lot about how younger people communicate: in fleeting, self-referential codes that are completely impenetrable to older people.
Perhaps therein lies its hidden message: that there is no message. That the Alpha Generation, raised among algorithms and crises, reserves the right to play with language without looking for meaning. And that, in a world where everything is analyzed, explained and monetized, can be a small act of freedom.
So the next time you hear a group of kids yelling “6-7!” in English, don’t be alarmed. They are not possessed. They are just reminding us—with a humor that we no longer understand—that absurdity is still the universal language of the internet.
Image | TikTok
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings