A new viral trend has taken social media by storm, and now it’s creeping into classrooms across Australia.
It’s called the “six seven” trend.
While the name suggests numbers, there’s no math involved. Decoding what it actually means, though? That’s proving almost as tricky.
What does 6 7 actually mean?
So, where does it come from? Like many of these trends, it’s derived from an artist you’ve likely never heard of.
The song by Skrilla called ‘Doot Doot (6 7)’ features a recurring lyric, “6-7”.
It’s become a popular sound to select when posting videos on TikTok or Instagram.
It also has an association with American basketball star LaMelo Ball, due to his impressive height of 6 feet 7.
It’s become as ingrained in Gen Alpha language as “LOL” and “YOLO” were to millennials back in the day.
As for what it means? That’s still up in the air.
It can be used as a casual descriptor to say something is “so-so,” refer to someone who is tall, or simply as a joke without a punchline.
Basically, it means nothing.
While this might annoy parents, the ultimate group on the front lines of this six-seven epidemic is teachers.
They’re likely sick of hearing those two numbers repeated as they try their best to teach the next generation.
Some schools have tried to ban it. Others are embracing it.
How teachers are tackling the viral trend
Leah’s daughter is in year 5, and it seems her teachers have decided that if you can’t beat them, join them.
“She was telling me just the other day that some teachers now use it to get the kids to stop talking. They’ve accepted defeat,” she told Kidspot.
“Her maths teacher counts up to 5 and then waits for the kids to continue counting with ‘6…7’ and then they all laugh.”
A teacher from Sydney’s eastern suburbs says the teachers at her school have a good handle on keeping kids contained.
“Being playful with the children actually helps keep it at bay,” the year 5 teacher told Kidspot.
She’s even found ways to incorporate it into her teaching methods.
“I have said, ‘we are reading from page 6 and 7,’ and done the hand action, let everyone have a laugh, then returned to the task,” she shared.
“I have organised a little writing challenge for the last day of school. In 6-7 minutes, write an explanation of what 6-7 means, how it originated and how it is used. You must write it in 67 words. No more, no less.”
A second teacher from New South Wales initially tried to make light of it.
“I tried to embrace it. You know, ‘what’s the answer to this question’ as a math teacher. ‘Oh my god? 67.’ Now I’ve like, full on banned it because it just annoying that it brings nothing to the conversation,” she revealed to Kidspot.
“It’s that whole thing of the brain rot. They can’t explain what it means…. That’s my two cents. That’s my 67 cents!”
It’s seemingly just another social media trend reminding us we’re officially in the ‘back in my day’ generation.
