A few months ago, my son came home from school looking completely fed up.
“Mum,” they said, “there are two boys in my class who will not stop saying ‘six-seven.’”
He dragged it out with dramatic flair — “Siiiix-seveeeen” — and even just hearing it made me want to roll my eyes. Over the next few weeks, the updates kept coming: the boys were still doing it, still saying it, still driving everyone crazy.
Eventually, I had to know what on earth it meant. So I went on a quiet little investigation — a stealth mission into the world of schoolyard trends — and what I found was both hilarious and slightly concerning.
Apparently, this nonsense phrase isn’t just bouncing around one classroom. It’s a global phenomenon.
The Strange Spread of “Six-Seven”
Across the world, kids are yelling “six-seven” at random moments — in class, at lunchtime, even in the car. You can’t say six or seven around them without someone bursting out with it.
Teachers say it’s like a virus spreading through the classroom. Parents say it’s annoying. And the kids? They think it’s the funniest thing ever.
If it reminds you of the old days when everyone giggled at “69,” you’re not wrong — except this time, the joke doesn’t even have a meaning.
Where Did It Come From?
Like most weird internet trends, “six-seven” started online. The first trace seems to come from a song released in December 2024 called Doot Doot by hip-hop artist Skrilla, where he raps, “Six-seven, I just bipped right on the highway (bip, bip).”
@natashabedingfield I saw you all liked this part of DOOT DOOT so I managed to get the recording straight from the mixing desk, here you go!! 🔥NEW VOCAL STIM OFFICIAL AUDIO JUST DROPPED 6 7🔥 @Skrilla ♬ Six Seveeeeeeen Skrilla ft. Natasha Bedingfield – Natasha Bedingfield
But it really took off thanks to basketball. Fans started joking that NBA player LaMelo Ball plays like he’s shorter than his actual height — 6’7” — and the phrase turned into a running joke. Soon people began saying it with an over-the-top hand gesture, and the silliness spread fast.
@hallofgame LaMelo Ball's FAVORITE Meme 😭💀 @NBA #nba #basketball #edit #lameloball #67 ♬ Doot Doot (6 7) – Skrilla
Then came the video that broke the internet: a young spectator at a basketball game shouting “Six-seven!” with wild enthusiasm. The clip went viral, and the boy — nicknamed Mason by the internet — became the face of the meme. From there, it took on a life of its own, jumping from TikTok to classrooms around the world.
@juventus 6 7 🗣️‼️‼️‼️ #meme #67 #UCL #juventus #bvb (meme assets: @🦬🏹Первобытный🏹🦬 ♬ original sound – Sanity
The Meme That Means Nothing (and That’s the Joke)
By now, “six-seven” has shown up everywhere — even in a recent episode of South Park. There are more than a million TikTok videos about it, teachers have tried banning it (which only made kids love it more), and some have even made “six-seven” Halloween costumes.
But if you ask what it means, no one really knows.
It doesn’t have a deep meaning, a hidden message, or a clever punchline. It’s just… nothing. And maybe that’s the point.
Linguists call this kind of thing semantic bleaching — when a phrase loses all meaning and becomes just a sound. For kids, that nonsense is exactly what makes it fun.
What It’s Really About
So why has something so random caught on so fast?
Alex Ling, a professor at Western Sydney University’s School of Humanities and Communication Arts, says the nature of TikTok makes this kind of trend almost impossible to contain. Because of how the platform spreads content, “these kinds of trends can go viral in a matter of hours and global within a few days, usually peaking within a week or so.”
That lightning-fast cycle is how a simple soundbite becomes a worldwide inside joke. Young people now build much of their culture through the creators and moments they see on their phones.
Daniel Cash, a law student at the Australian National University who hosts the Gen Z Explained podcast, has watched the evolution of the 6-7 meme from social media to everyday slang, where it’s now “used to give confounding, unintelligible answers to questions.”
“I think the point is that it’s meaningless and confusing to those who don’t understand, but to those who do, it’s a funny, generational, inside joke,” he says.
“It’s a good bit of generational warfare, actually. You really have to be in the know. Language and communication is for younger generations now very, very contextual.”
From 69 to 6-7: Every Generation Has Its Joke
Every generation has its own strange way of making each other laugh. For some of us, it was “69.” For others, it was silly catchphrases, weird dances, or bottle flips. For Gen Alpha, it’s “six-seven.”
Soon enough, it’ll fade away, replaced by whatever random sound or phrase the internet dreams up next. But for now, classrooms are echoing with “six-seven!” — and maybe that’s okay.
Because as annoying as it is, at least it’s harmless fun. And who knows — maybe one day, we’ll look back on this strange little moment and laugh, too.
