(NEXSTAR) — Just when you thought your children had moved on from saying things like “skibidi” and “demure” and “sigma,” now they may be throwing around a new slang term: “6-7.”
Sometimes written as “67” but pronounced “six seven” and frequently said while alternating between lifting your hands, palms up, in a sort of juggling or weighing motion, the slang unsurprisingly originated on the internet.
LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets and rapper Skrilla are given some of the credit for the new lingo.
In his December 2024 song “Doot Doot (6 7),” Skrilla says, “6-7, I just bipped right on the highway.”
The song was soon used during fan-made videos compiling clips of Ball. Coming in at an NBA average 6’7” tall, Ball has garnered a youth following thanks in part to the swag (to use a bit of retired slang) he brings on the court. The flashiness, Bleacher Report explains, appears to have contributed to the meme.
Ball isn’t necessarily well-known for his skills on the court, which have contributed to the belief that “6-7” and its “so-so” hand motion can be used to describe an average performance or situation.
But, if you have kids of a certain age, they may be using it to describe anything: the time, how their day was, what they want for dinner, why they didn’t do their chores.
“There’s literally no circumstance where a kid might not say, ‘six seven,” TikTok creator Mr. Lindsay has explained. In fact, there’s a chance your teens don’t even know why they’re saying it. Two teenagers questioned by Nexstar said so themselves.
Have we lost you? If so, you may not be prepared to hear that “6-7” is evolving.
According to Mr. Lindsay (and maybe your teens), “6-7” is being combined with “sendy.”
You may already be familiar with “sendy,” or its longer term, “send it.” You may have “sent it” when you tried to rollerblade over the rickety wooden ramp your friend built in their driveway, or when you quite literally sent a potentially risky text to your crush.
“Sendy” has entered the youth lexicon in connection with an apparently viral video in which one person responds, “Let’s get sendy” after another says, “There’s no commandment that says thou shall not send it.”
This phrase has its own hand motion, of course, in which the speaker pretends to take a shot. As Mr. Lindsay explains, any objection could be used to complete this motion, not exclusively a beverage. Combining “6-7” and “sendy” may sound like “six-sendy,” or “6-7endy.” But like “6-7,” it has hardly any meaning.
Nonetheless, for some, “6-7” has plenty of significance. Taylen Kinney, a 17-year-old highly ranked basketball player, has become popular for his use of “6-7” when asked just about anything. For example, as The Athletic reports, Kinney responded “6-7” when asked to rank his Starbucks drink. Several videos of Kinney using the slang have garnered plenty of attention in recent months. So much attention, in fact, that Kinney has launched a canned water brand — naturally, it’s called “6 7” water.
It’s too soon to say what the future of the phrase will be. Like others before it — remember skibidi and delulu? — there is a chance that “6-7” will earn a spot in an online dictionary like the Cambridge Dictionary. If you asked us the odds of “6-7” receiving the same recognition, we’d guess six, seven.
The post Are your kids always saying ‘6-7?’ Here’s what it means appeared first on WHNT.
