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“Nobody’s Safe” from the viral six-seven phenomenon is “taking the younger generation by storm”. Certain textbook page numbers, homework questions and math answers are all banned, just to avoid the inevitable parroting that follows.
The TikTok habit has baffled older audiences since the beginning of the year, but its use has recently exploded online, making it a global fixture among young people. Parents and teachers are at a loss: is this another “totally pointless” digital trend, said Fox Newsor “so awesome it’s impossible to understand”? Anyway, Gen Alpha has completely “confused the masses” with this latest obsession.
“Repetitive Cycles of Futility”
The ever-present meme is a “prime example of brain rot” among young people, said The Wall Street Journal. When either or both numbers are mentioned, young people make a “palm, seesaw” hand gesture that looks like something between “juggling and melon handling”.
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Its implication is that it makes no sense, which by a somewhat strained logic makes it funny because it is unfunny, said the outlet. “Maybe if the French philosopher Albert Camus had one TikTokcould he explain it, given how well he understood repetitive cycles of futility. But Reddit works too.”
The exact origin of the meme is disputed, although there is widespread agreement that Philadelphia rapper Skrilla’s “Doot Doot” (6 7)” viral song released in December 2024 popularized the phenomenon. Six-seven could either refer to the street he grew up on in the city (67th), or could be a “reference to the police 67, a death report, Taylor” linguist and social scientist, told CNN.
Taylen Kinney, an up-and-coming basketball player, was launched into “internet immortality” after he created the accompanying gesture for the phrase, said The Athletic. Since the meme appeared, he has amassed over a million followers social mediaalong with receiving prestigious basketball scholarships. Fittingly, the nonsensical meme reflects, “Kinney himself is unclear why it, and he, has become such a hit”.
“Destined for the slang graveyard”?
Attempts to unlock any meaning in the phrase have become increasingly desperate, The Wall Street Journal said. In the story, references to the 1967 Summer of Love; in geography, seven continents but only six with countries; in religious circles, the belief that God created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh, have all tried to rationalize the “inevitable internet snake”, with little success.
Although it makes no sense, there may be valid reasons why the meme is so attractive to young people, CNN said. It has neither a ‘set’ nor a ‘punchline’, but participation allows youngsters to share a common joke at the adults’ expense, and feel like a ‘member of a bigger, cooler group of their peers’.
It’s been around for almost a year, or what feels like a “century” in the fast-paced world of TikTok, but its popularity may be coming to an end. The 6-7 craze is “probably destined for the slang graveyard soon,” as adults wrap their heads around the concept and imitate it. Teachers, rather than fearing the outbreak, “play defense” by using it themselves: a surefire way to deflate even the most widespread “shibboleth.”
