We’ll Tell You So You Don’t Have to Ask: Here’s What “6-7” Means

Dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year isn’t a word at all. Beating out nominees like “tradwife,” “overtourism,” and “aura framing” was a set of numbers: 6-7. You might have heard it before, from your own children, TikTok, or the animated sitcom South Park, which recently lampooned both the expression and the moral panic that surrounds it. But what does it mean?

Going Viral

Merriam-Webster defines 6-7 as a “nonsensical expression used especially by teens and tweens” and links its origins to two intertwined cultural phenomena: the 2024 song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Philadelphia-based rapper Skrilla, and NBA player LaMelo Ball, who happens to be exactly 6’7” in height. The rap song went viral on TikTok and Instagram, where it was often paired with highlights from Ball’s games. Overtime Elite player Taylen “TK” Kinney was one in particular to help popularize the phrase.

Dig deeper, and things get murky. On Reddit forums, users deny the popular rumor that the rap song’s title refers to Philadelphia’s 67th Street, as the rapper grew up in a different area of town. Citing the line “Send my shooter on a hit, I’ll middle-man a whole body,” they propose the numbers reference the Philly police’s code for dead body: 10-67.

Like any internet meme, the expression went on to take a life of its own, becoming as beloved by one segment of the population as it is hated by another. An article published by The Guardian in October called it “the bane of school teachers everywhere.” The reason is obvious: “Imagine telling your students to turn to page 67,” the article says, “only for all of them to shout ‘six-seven!’ at you.”

More of an Inside Joke Than a Literal Meaning

Scholarship helps explain the meme’s meteoric rise in popularity. As linguist Cynthia Gordon of Georgetown University notes in an article published on the university’s website, 6-7’s power isn’t tied to what it means, but what it does. “While it seems to be established that ‘6-7’ doesn’t carry much, or possibly any, informational meaning,” she explains, “it’s clear that it does carry social meaning, which is very important.”

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Put differently, 6-7 owes its current online and offline ubiquity to the fact that it’s become an inside joke—a way for students and social media users to signal solidarity, belonging, and what Gordon calls “shared understanding.” It’s a way for people to distinguish themselves from the out-group, which includes parents and teachers.

6-7 isn’t unique in this regard. Ever since internet memes first started showing up in the late ‘90s to help moderators of online communities identify newcomers, they have functioned as a kind of status symbol. In this sense, memes like 6-7 are the visual, multimedia equivalent of slang. 

While 6-7 remains all the rage, its reign won’t be everlasting. According to Gordon, social media “accelerates linguistic trends and gives wider audiences access to them,” which means that it’s only a matter of time before it will be supplanted by another, equally puzzling expression.

So don’t worry, older generations who don’t really understand this trend. There’s really not much to get.