I was playing goalie in
the basement with two grandsons when, out of the blue and between my
screeching at their high-speed wrist shots, someone shouted, “How old are you, Gramma?”
I put my hands up to stop the game. “How old do you think I am?”
Without hesitating, the youngest said, “Fifty-two.” He just became my favourite eight-year-old.
I threw my gloves and stick down, rushed over and gave him a hug.
“Did I guess right?” He wiggled out of my arms. “You’re fifty-two?”
“No.” I smiled. “I’m not. But I love that you think I am.”
“Well then, how old are you?” asked his big brother.
“I’m sixty-seven.”
They froze. Their eyes got round. Their mouths made perfect o’s. I glanced back and forth between them because their expressions were confusing me. What in the world had I said this time?
“Gramma,” the oldest one shouted and then did this weird hand waving motion. “You’re 6 7.”
“Yup, I’m sixty-seven.”
“No, Gramma.” He shook his head. “You’re 6 7. That’s so cool.”
And then the pucks started flying again and I retreated back to the net silently gloating at my apparent 6 7 coolness.
When I got home, I did some research to figure out what this expression meant so I could truly appreciate my new status.
Trusty Google had a
plethora of facts and trivia to sift through. These are abbreviated versions of
the ones that caught my attention:
- The expression started from a Philadelphia rapper, Skrilla, who used repetitions of 6 7 in his song Doot Doot (6 7) but he states he never intended there to be a specific meaning to the numbers.
- The expression grew legs in late 2024 and became more popular in 2025.
- Generation Alpha (born 2010 and later) are the prime users.
- People often use it when they hear the numbers 6 and 7 – i.e. a teacher says, "open your textbooks to page 67" or someone says, “do you want to get together at 6 or 7 o’clock". The response is an exuberant “6 7!”
- Often when 6 7 is said, the user moves their open-palmed hands up and down alternately (like a weigh scale). The gesture can mean ‘it’s like this, it’s like that’, ‘it’s so, so’ or ‘it is what it is’. That was the weird hand movement my grandson did.
- Some teachers ban it’s use in the classroom because of the commotion it causes amongst the students.
- According to Dictionary.com it is the Word of the Year because of its widespread cultural impact. Their definition of 6 7 is ‘a burst of energy that spreads and connects people long before anyone agrees on what it actually means.’
- The saying is a meaningless inside joke to indicate you’re part of a group and to exclude older generations who have no idea of its insignificance.
- Adults who try to seek a logical definition make the joke funnier to the kids who use it.
Well, that last one stopped me in my tracks and
temporarily diluted my coolness status. But it also took me down another rabbit
hole to see what the nonsensical expressions were back in my day.
I might have been heard chuckling when I reviewed the list.
Nonsensical expressions from the 70s
- Catch
you on the flipside
- Do
me a solid
- Dream
on
- Gimme
some skin
- Put
a cork in it
- Up
your nose with a rubber hose (my all time favourite)
Nonsensical expressions from the 80s
- Gag
me with a maggot
- Grody
(to the max)
- As if!
- Gnarly
- Rad
- Psych
It’s fun and funny how expressions change with each generation. I now have more appreciation for my parents who navigated through our slang without the aid of Google and still managed to have conversations with us. And I love the eye roll or head shake I get from my adult children when I intentionally drop an oldy. I’m sure they must think ‘Mom must’ve been pretty rad back in the day.’
Putting all research aside, for the next few months, I’ll continue to bask in my 6 7 coolness.
Happy New Year.
Summer of Lies by
Barbara Baker — BWL Publishing
What About Me? by Barbara Baker — BWL
Publishing
Jillian of Banff XO —
BWL Publishing
Baker, Barbara - BWL Publishing Inc. (bookswelove.net)
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