‘6-7’ trend: New ‘brain rot’ phrase sweeps classrooms

Kids across the country are driving their parents and teachers insane with a new slang phrase that has its own hand gesture. Photo / 123RF

A new viral trend has taken social media by storm, and now it’s creeping into classrooms across Australia and New Zealand.

It’s called the “six seven” trend, or “6-7”.

While the name suggests numbers, there’s no maths involved. Decoding what it actually means, though? That’s proving almost as tricky.

So, where does it come from? Like many of these trends, it’s derived from an artist you’ve likely never heard of, Kidspot reports.

The song by Skrilla called Doot Doot (6 7) features a recurring lyric, “6-7”.

It also has an association with American basketball star LaMelo Ball, because of his impressive height of 6 feet 7.

It means “nothing” and can be used to suggest that a person, or something, is “average”.

But it really took off when Taylen Kinney, a 17-year-old basketball player from Atlanta, was asked to rank his Starbucks drink, according to the New York Times.

He screwed up his brow in contemplation before answering, “six, seven”, and instantly became a viral meme.

Things really snowballed from there, with the Skrilla song becoming a popular sound to select when posting videos on TikTok or Instagram.

What does 6 7 actually mean?

Now it has become as ingrained in Gen Alpha language as “LOL” and “YOLO” were to millennials back in the day.

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.

There’s even a sign, which can be done using one hand and once completed, is moved up and down to complete the gesture.

While this might annoy parents, the ultimate group on the front lines of this six-seven epidemic is teachers.

They’re reportedly sick of hearing those two numbers repeated as they try their best to teach the next generation.

Some schools have banned it. Others are embracing it.

Kids across the country are saying “6 7”, but what does it actually mean? Photo / Youtube, Skrilla

How teachers are tackling the viral trend

Aussie mum Leah, whose daughter is in Year 5, said 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.

“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!”

However, some teachers in the US and the UK, where the trend is currently more prolific, have described the situation as a “nightmare”.

“I’m an 8th grade teacher and I am so done hearing it that I just banned it from my classroom,” one wrote on Reddit.

“It was funny at first, but now it continually interrupts my class,” raged another.

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