Topline
Members of Generation Alpha are yelling the numbers “six, seven” so much that Dictionary.com declared the viral number as its word of the year for 2025, even though the phrase—which comes from a popular song by the rapper Skrilla—doesn’t have much of a meaning.
The viral phrase “six, seven” comes from rapper Skrilla’s song “Doot Doot.” (Photo by Joshua Applegate/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Dictionary.com crowned “67” word of the year Wednesday morning, stating few other slang terms have captured the mood of 2025 quite like the viral number—though it acknowledged the term doesn’t mean much.
“It’s part inside joke, part social signal and part performance,” Steve Johnson, Dictionary Media Group’s directory of lexicography said, adding, “When people say it, they’re not just repeating a meme; they’re shouting a feeling.”
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, according to TikTok’s analytics.
TikTok’s analytics show 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.
“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.”
The phrase “six, seven,” is essentially meaningless, and Skrilla has admitted as much, telling the Wall Street Journal: “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.”
Some have characterized the “six, seven” meme as 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.
Surprising Fact
“South Park” parodied the “six, seven” trend in a new episode earlier this month. A teaser trailer depicted faculty at South Park Elementary growing frustrated with students who “appear to be in some kind of cult involving the numbers six and seven.” In the episode, teachers were so concerned about the “Satanic numerology” that they enlisted an “expert on the end of days and the coming Antichrist” investigate, who was revealed to be a parody of billionaire Peter Thiel.
How Are Teachers Reacting To “67?”
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. Some teachers have posted videos declaring they have banned the number “67” from their classrooms. Another teacher, in a video liked more than 2.5 million times, told his precalculus class: “You’re idiots,” before mocking the way students say “six, seven.” One 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.” Multiple teachers uploaded videos pranking their class with the two numbers, giving students math tests where every answer is “67.”
How Did The “67” Trend Go Viral?
Skrilla’s song “Doot Doot” 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. Ball acknowledged the trend in an interview with ESPN, stating he often hears kids yelling “six, seven” at him and joked the phrase is his new nickname. The trend was also boosted by a viral moment from a video of a basketball game, uploaded to YouTube by social media celebrity Cam Wilder, in which a boy exclaims “six, seven” into the camera while moving his palms up and down. The boy went viral on TikTok and was featured in many “six, seven” video edits. Other instances of people saying “six, seven” have gone viral on TikTok, like a crowd of people cheering as an In-N-Out employee calls out order number 67 and dancers giggling as their teacher says “six, seven” while counting out the beat. Gen Z and millennial TikTok users have also made posts joking about the “six, seven” craze making them feel old and out-of-touch with trends popular among kids.
Further Reading
The Numbers Six and Seven Are Making Life Hell for Math Teachers (Wall Street Journal)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/10/29/67-is-dictionarycoms-word-of-the-year-but-what-does-the-viral-phrase-mean/
