Kids Can’t Stop Yelling Out These Two Numbers. Here’s The Story Behind Why

The absurdity of 6-7 is the point. “Six-seven!” If you’ve been anywhere near kids lately, you’ve probably heard it: shouted across classrooms, echoed down sidewalks or gleefully screamed by toddlers who picked it up from older siblings. For adults trying to decode it, “6-7” might sound like pure nonsense, and that’s exactly the point. The phrase has swept from TikTok to playgrounds to dinner tables, becoming a bizarre but oddly unifying inside joke for Gen Alpha (and driving math teachers everywhere to the brink of insanity).Where it startedThe “6-7” craze traces back to rapper Skrilla’s drill-rap track “Doot Doot (6 7).” With its looping lyrics and infectious beat, the song was made for social media – easy to remix, exaggerate and meme into oblivion.By early 2025, TikTokers had paired the track with clips of Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball, who, fittingly, stands 6’7”. The trend took off, and soon sports edits were everywhere, from LeBron James dunks to local pickup games.From there, “6-7” took on a life of its own, spreading across platforms and even popping up in a South Park episode. Like “Skibidi” before it, it became a catchall for silliness: a meaningless phrase that somehow manages to mean everything and nothing at once.The faces behind the memeHigh school basketball star Taylen “TK” Kinney gave the meme a second wind – and a face. The 17-year-old, a top-20 national recruit, went viral after a clip of him shouting “6-7!” during a game started circulating on TikTok. The timing was perfect: the phrase was already everywhere, and Kinney’s confident delivery blended basketball swagger with meme culture.In one clip, when asked to rate his Starbucks drink, Kinney furrowed his brow in mock seriousness before replying, “6, 7,” moving his hands up and down as if weighing two choices. Fans copied the gesture instantly, turning his offhand motion into a signature move of the “6-7” craze.Then came “the 6-7 Kid”. In March, a short clip of a boy with forward-swept hair leaning toward the camera, grinning and shouting “6-7!” paired with the hand motions became the face of the movement. The moment, plucked from the middle of a 36-minute basketball video, somehow defined the trend, a reminder that on the internet, randomness often reigns supreme.Even Skrilla seems amused by the chaos. “I never put an actual meaning on it, and I still would not want to,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “That’s why everybody keeps saying it.”What it actually means (and what it doesn’t)As TikTok creator Student Dr. Malc explained, “6-7” eventually became a kind of clip-farming currency: athletes or influencers would casually drop “6-7” in interviews, hoping the internet would seize the moment, remix it and turn them into the next viral edit.Offline, spotting “6-7” has become its own game. See it on a jersey, a scoreboard, or a random sign? Snap a photo, make an edit and try to go viral. It’s meme culture in its purest form, a feedback loop of irony, repetition and what some might call extreme brainrot.By September, “6-7” had become a hallmark of Gen Alpha culture: playful, absurd and more about belonging than meaning. Its appeal lies in deliberate nonsense — funny, a little rebellious and instantly recognisable among peers. Teens often stretch it out, “six-sev-eeennn,” using it to convey everything and nothing at once, a kind of involuntary vocal compulsion.As Jessica Plonchak, licensed clinical social worker and the executive clinical director at Choice Point Health, said: “Slang is a creative and natural way of early youth identity-building. For kids and teens, language is not just tied to communication, but it also offers them a strong sense of belonging.” That mix of humour and insider exclusivity is exactly what makes phrases like “6-7” powerful. “The humour and vagueness make it difficult for outsiders to decode, which reinforces its power as an in-group marker,” Plonchak said.“It’s also a type of low-risk rebellion, discovering private meaning in a world where most of their behaviour is structured by adults and algorithms.”And in the age of viral trends, that rebellion travels fast. “Social media has expanded this process to a greater extent,” Plonchak added. “Slang is now evolving and spreading among people in no time. The more absurd the term or phrase is, the more it offers a safe, relatable sense of belonging.” It’s also a type of low-risk rebellion, discovering private meaning in a world where most of their behavior is structured by adults and algorithms.”Jessica Plonchak, licensed clinical social worker and the executive clinical director at Choice Point HealthAnd it seems there’s no stopping it now: “6-7” is going down in infamy. A Dictionary.com analysis found that the term appeared in digital media six times more frequently in October 2025 than in all of 2024. “It’s part inside joke, part social signal and part performance. When people say it, they’re not just repeating a meme; they’re shouting a feeling,” Steve Johnson, Ph.D., director of lexicography for the Dictionary Media Group at IXL Learning, said. “It’s one of the first Words of the Year that works as an interjection – a burst of energy that spreads and connects people long before anyone agrees on what it actually means.”Reflecting its widespread influence, Dictionary.com names “6-7” its 2025 Word of the Year, citing its role in capturing the playful, absurd and connected spirit of youth culture and the broader cultural mood of 2025. Each year, the Word of the Year and shortlist highlight words and phrases that define how we talk and think about our world, and lexicographers say “6-7” perfectly embodies the language of the moment.For adults trying to keep up, the takeaway is simple: “6-7” isn’t meant to make sense. It’s a perfect emblem of Gen Alpha’s online world, where absurdity is the language, irony is the punchline and a touch of brainrot is just part of the vibe.Related...There's A New Number Replacing 'Six-Seven' And You're About To Hear A Lot More Of ItWhen Kids Say 'Chopped' It's Probably Not What You Think It Means'My Teen Daughter's Pushing Me To The Edge. I Don't Know How To Parent Her'

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