Maybe you’ve seen the viral TikTok videos of middle-school aged kids in an In N Out Burger wildly celebrating when order number 67 is called out or, perhaps, you’re a teacher and have seen your classroom erupt when the numeric combo randomly presents, or, just as likely, you’re a parent, a sibling or just an observer confused about what it all means.
Well, here’s the short answer: nobody knows, not even the kids.
The phrase 6-7, according to reporting from the L.A. Times, was coined in a song penned by Philadelphia rapper Skrilla, who has reportedly said he never really endowed the numbers with any special meaning.
In fact, the song “Doot Doot (6 7)” was never supposed to be heard, but in an email to The Times, the rapper, whose real name is Jemille Edwards, said he leaked the track late last year and the kids just took it from there.
He told the outlet that the phrase has turned into “something positive and fun that people everywhere are enjoying.”
While this writer, who is decades beyond middle school, gets a laugh from watching the viral social media trend, it’s easy to understand why it might be disruptive in the classroom, prompting some schools and teachers to ban the slang, along with the “juggling” hand gesture that often comes with it.
“I’ve been teaching for 20 years and I’ve dealt with all sorts of slang — nothing has driven me crazier than this one,” Adria Laplander, a sixth-grade language arts teacher in Michigan, told TODAY.com.
Whether or not that’s the best approach for a trend that’s made it into the pop-culture zeitgeist, with features on “South Park” and “Abbot Elementary,” is up for debate.
USC Psychology Professor Karen North told the L.A. Times that she believes teachers are likely a part of the reason for the celebratory trend’s longevity, saying “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 that something is impossible to ban.”
“6-7” has, according to North, become this generation’s fun, “in crowd” code word, a twist on something that every other generation has shared, from something that was once groovy becoming “bad” or “cool” to it also now being “fire.”
“But for us to be worried about two little numbers, you know, maybe it’s this generation telling us to lighten up a little,” she explained.
The post Why are kids in California having the best time screaming ‘6-7!’ appeared first on KTLA.
