Nowadays, Alpha generation is yelling the numbers “six, seven” so much that Dictionary.com has declared the viral number as its word of the year for 2025.
How Did This Happen?
You would be amazed to know that this phrase which comes from a popular song by the rapper Skrilla—doesn’t have much of a meaning considering its popularity.
But owing to it popularity, Dictionary.com crowned “67” word of the year Wednesday morning claiming that few other slang terms have captured the mood of 2025 quite like the viral number while acknowledging that the term doesn’t mean much.
Moving ahead, the Dictionary Media Group’s director of lexicography, Steve Johnson, noted “It’s part inside joke, part social signal and part performance,” adding “When people say it, they’re not just repeating a meme; they’re shouting a feeling.”
TikTok’s analytics stated that for weeks, TikTok has been flooded with videos of kids saying the numbers “six, seven,” or descending into a frenzy when they hear someone else say it, with more than 2 million posts using the hashtag #67.
The usage of the hashtag #67 has spiked in September and October, possibly because of how usage of the viral internet meme has spiked in the classroom as students returned for the school year, with some teachers creating TikToks voicing frustration with the phrase or using the two numbers as a tactic to engage their students as per the TikTok’s analytics.
If we consider it’s origin, “Six, seven” comes from a 2024 song by the rapper Skrilla, “Doot Doot,” in which he raps: “6-7, I just bipped right on the highway.”
A Meaningless Phrase Or Kuch More?
It is essential to know that the phrase “six, seven,” is meaningless, and Skrilla has admitted as much, telling the Wall Street Journal, saying “I never put an actual meaning on it, and I still would not want to,” claiming the absence of meaning is “why everybody keeps saying it.”
In another point of view, the term characterized as the “six, seven” meme is an example of internet “brain rot”—a term for low-quality, meaningless online memes and the negative impact this content may have on consumers, which was named the word of the year by Oxford University Press in 2024.
This Trend has affected the people so much that many teachers have documented the “six, seven” craze on TikTok, with some appearing visibly frustrated, while others use it as a tool to capture their students’ attention.
This has gone to the extent that some teachers have posted videos declaring they have banned the number “67” from their classrooms.
In such instances, in a viral video liked more than 2.5 million times, qnother teacher said his precalculus class: “You’re idiots,” before mocking the way students say “six, seven.”
Another experimental teacher posted a video of herself using “six, seven” as a call-and-response tactic to silence her classroom. She said the word “six,” to which the entire class responded “seven,” and then told students they have to be quiet after that and that is the “only way I’m going to let you say this ridiculous phrase.”
Similarly, saveral teachers uploaded videos where they pranking their class with the two numbers, giving students math tests where every answer is “67.”
This frenzy has started with Skrilla’s song “Doot Doot” which went viral on TikTok earlier this year, with many users posting video edits of 24-year-old NBA player LaMelo Ball, who stands six foot seven inches, to the song.
This trend was acknowledged by the Ball in an interview with ESPN, stating he often hears kids yelling “six, seven” at him and joked the phrase is his new nickname.
