When Jennifer Trujillo first heard her middle school band students say "six, seven" in class and explode with glee, she sought out the advice of an expert: her 15-year-old daughter.
Skrilla49 attends an album release party April 7, 2022, at Bootsy Bellows in West Hollywood, Calif.
Trujillo wanted to know what it meant when they'd repeat the numbers and move their hands in a juggling motion. Her daughter gave her an unsatisfactory reply: "Mom, nobody knows."
Yet, kids and teens seemingly everywhere use the phrase.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the trend, the phrase comes from a song by Philadelphia rapper Skrilla, who told the paper he never "put an actual meaning on it."
Skrilla, whose real name is Jemille Edwards, told The Times in an email that the song "Doot Doot (6 7)" wasn't supposed to leave the recording studio, but he decided to leak it at the end of 2024, and teens ran with it.
The term turned "into something positive and fun that people everywhere are enjoying," he wrote. "6 7!!!! Keep it goin', keep it positive, and remember where that energy come from."
Catching on
The phrase was referenced in an episode of the four-time Emmy-winning series "Abbott Elementary" and was the entire plot of the first episode of season 28 of "South Park."
A video posted on social media showed a group of teens going wild at an In-N-Out when order 67 was called.
"You don't realize how many times you say 67 or six, seven in your daily life until you have a bunch of middle schoolers to remind you," Trujillo said.
Trujillo, who teaches at Giano Intermediate School in West Covina, likened the experience to the word-of-the-day segment on the "The Pee-Wee Herman Show" from the 1980s that would cause everyone on the show to erupt with joy when the word was said.
Desarie Alvarez, 13, eighth grade associate student body president at Giano Intermediate, told The Times the phrase created a playful buzz around the campus and playground.
The phrase "six, seven" is random, she said, but her classmates find it funny nonetheless. "I don't really see how it's funny but, I got used to it," she said.
Teachers in some states discipline their students or forbid the phrase when the laughter or constant jeers disrupt the class. At least one school banned it.
Carlos Ochoa, principal of Giano Intermediate, acknowledged some teachers get annoyed. For the most part, he said, his teachers go with it and either give their students a chance to yell "six, seven!" to get it out of their system, or say it along with them in hopes of making the phrase uncool.
Staying power
Social media can quickly amplify a trend that can then die in a matter of days or weeks. "Skibidi," a viral phrase from a computer animated video of a head coming out of a toilet, is hardly used now.
The trick is getting it to catch on in the first place and there's a very slim chance of that, said Karen North, a professor of digital social media and psychology at USC.
Skrilla released the song last year but it didn't start to gain momentum until it was used on social media.
It's unclear when exactly it caught on. In March, basketball influencer Cam Wilder posted a video on YouTube from an Amateur Athletic Union game where two teenagers in the crowd turn to the camera and say "six, seven."
More recently, Charlotte Hornets basketball player LaMelo Ball, who is 6 foot 7 inches tall, began using the music, referencing the song and lip dubbing "6 7" in TikTok videos.
North said she believes it sprung back to life because teachers got involved. She noted, "there's nothing that middle schoolers or elementary schoolers like more than to have teachers get upset and try to take action against something, especially if the something is impossible to ban."
A child could argue they're not breaking the rule if they simply cheer when they encounter 67 in the world, North said, or end up having to say it in a lesson, like in a math class.
Generational code?
"Six, seven" is one of those things where kids have this secret code that is fun to participate in and makes them feel like part of the "in crowd," North said.
It's almost become a game because kids realized adults can't avoid sometimes saying or being exposed to the numbers because they're part of everyday life.
North reminds parents and teachers that every generation has its secret code word. What was once the "bee's knees" later became "groovy," then "fire."
"When you think about all of the things that our kids go through in this age, with all the bullying and political stuff that's going on in the world, we could be worried about so many other pressing things," Trujillo said. "But for us to be worried about two little numbers, you know, maybe it's this generation telling us to lighten up a little."
