{"id":41492,"date":"2026-01-10T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=41492"},"modified":"2026-02-08T07:31:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T15:31:03","slug":"the-6-7-craze-offered-a-brief-window-into-the-hidden-world-of-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-6-7-craze-offered-a-brief-window-into-the-hidden-world-of-children\/","title":{"rendered":"The 6-7 craze offered a brief window into the hidden world of children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rebekah Willett<\/a>, University of Wisconsin-Madison<\/a><\/em>; Amanda Levido<\/a>, Southern Cross University<\/a><\/em>, and Hyeon-Seon Jeong<\/a>, Gyeongin National University of Education<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many adults are breathing a sigh of relief as the 6-7 meme<\/a> fades away as one of the biggest kid-led global fads of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case you managed to miss it, 6-7 is a slang term<\/a> \u2013 spoken aloud as \u201csix seven\u201d \u2013 accompanied by an arm gesture that mimics someone weighing something in their hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has no real meaning, but it spawned countless videos across various platforms and infiltrated schools and homes across the globe. Shouts of \u201c6-7\u201d disrupted classrooms<\/a> and rained down<\/a> at sporting events<\/a>. Think pieces proliferated<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the most part, adults responded with mild annoyance and confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as media scholars<\/a> who study<\/a> children\u2019s culture<\/a>, we didn\u2019t view the meme with bewilderment or exasperation. Instead, we thought back to our own childhoods on three different continents \u2013 and all the secret languages we spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was Pig Latin<\/a>. The cool \u201cS\u201d<\/a> doodled on countless worksheets and bathroom stalls. Forming an L-shape<\/a> with our thumb and index finger to insult someone. Remixing the words of hand-clapping games from previous generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6-7 is only the latest example of these long-standing practices<\/a> \u2013 and though the gesture might not mean much to adults, it says a lot about children\u2019s play, their social lives and their desire for power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The irresistible allure of 6-7<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can see this longing for power in classic play like spying on adults and in games like \u201cking of the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vintage
Kids spend much of their days watched and controlled \u2013 and will jump at the chance to turn the tables. H. Armstrong Roberts\/ClassicStock via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A typical school day involves a tight schedule of adult-directed activities; kids have little time or space for agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But during those in-between times when children are able to stealthily evade adult surveillance \u2013 on playgrounds<\/a>, on the internet and even when stuck at home during the pandemic<\/a> \u2013 children\u2019s culture can thrive. In these spaces, they can make the rules. They set the terms. And if it confuses adults, all the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As 6-7 went viral, teachers complained<\/a> that random outbursts by their students were interrupting their lessons. Some started avoiding asking any kind of question that might result in an answer of 67. The trend migrated from schools to sports arenas and restaurants: In-N-Out Burger ended up banning the number 67<\/a> from their ticket ordering system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meaninglessness of 6-7 made it easy to create a sense of inclusion and exclusion \u2013 and to annoy adults, who strained to decipher hidden meanings<\/a>. In the U.S., siblings and friends dressed as the numbers 6-7 for Halloween. And in Australia, it was rumored that houses with 6-7 in their address were going for astronomical prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remixing games and rhymes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since before World War I, historians have documented<\/a> children\u2019s use of secret languages like \u201cback slang<\/a>,\u201d which happens when words are phonetically spoken backwards. And nonsense words and phrases have long proliferated in children\u2019s culture: Recent examples include \u201cbooyah<\/a>,\u201d \u201cskibidi<\/a>\u201d and \u201ctalk to the hand<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6-7 also coincides with a long history of children revising, adapting and remixing games and rhymes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, in our three countries \u2013 the U.S., Australia and South Korea \u2013 we\u2019ve encountered endless variations of the game of \u201ctag.\u201d Sometimes the chasers pretend to be the dementors from Harry Potter. Other times the chasers have pretended to be the COVID-19 virus. Or we\u2019ll see them incorporate their immediate surroundings, like designating playground equipment as \u201chome\u201d or \u201csafe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar games can spread among children around the world. In South Korea, \u201cMugunghwa kkochi pieotseumnida<\/a>\u201d \u2013 which roughly translates to \u201cThe rose of Sharon has bloomed,\u201d a reference to South Korea\u2019s national flower \u2013 is similar to the game \u201cRed Light, Green Light\u201d in English-speaking countries. In the game \u201cHwang-ma!,\u201d South Korean children in the early aughts shouted the word and playfully struck a peer upon seeing a rare, gold-colored car<\/a>, a game similar to \u201cPunch Buggy<\/a>\u201d and \u201cSlug Bug\u201d in the U.S. and Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Variations of \u2018Red Light, Green Light\u2019 exist around the world. Jarek Tuszy\u0144ski\/Wikimedia Commons<\/a>, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Historically, children have reworked rhymes and clapping games<\/a> to draw on popular culture of the day. \u201cGeorgie Best, Superstar,\u201d sung to the tune of \u201cJesus Christ Superstar,\u201d was a popular chant on U.K. playgrounds in the 1970s<\/a> that celebrated the legendary soccer player George Best. And a variation of the clapping game \u201cI went to a Chinese Restaurant<\/a>\u201d included the lyrics \u201cMy name is, Elvis Presley, girls are sexy, Sitting on the back seat, drinking Pepsi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making space for children\u2019s culture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One reason 6-7 became so popular is the low barrier to entry: Saying \u201c6-7\u201d and doing the accompanying hand movement is easy to pick up and translate into different cultural contexts. The simplicity of the meme allowed young Korean children to repeat the phrase in English. And deaf children have participated by signing the meme<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the social worlds of children now exist across a range of online spaces, 6-7 has been able to seamlessly spread and evolve. On the gaming platform Roblox, for example, children can create avatars that resemble 6-7 and play games that feature the numbers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strange words, nonsensical games and creative play of your childhood might seem ridiculous today. But there\u2019s real value in these hidden worlds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With or without access to the internet, children will continue to transform language and games to suit their needs \u2013 which, yes, includes getting under the skin of adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great deal of attention is given to the omnipresence of digital technologies in children\u2019s lives, but we think it\u2019s worth taking a moment to appreciate the way children are using these technologies to innovate and connect in ways both creative and mundane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebekah Willett<\/a>, Professor in the Information School, University of Wisconsin-Madison<\/a><\/em>; Amanda Levido<\/a>, Lecturer, Southern Cross University<\/a><\/em>, and Hyeon-Seon Jeong<\/a>, Professor of Digital Media Education, Gyeongin National University of Education<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebekah Willett, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Amanda Levido, Southern Cross University, and Hyeon-Seon Jeong, Gyeongin National University of Education Many adults are breathing a sigh of relief as the 6-7 meme fades away as one of the biggest kid-led global fads of 2025. In case you managed to miss it, 6-7 is a slang term \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":41493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,276,10,25,36,38],"tags":[132,147,2705,4491,8583,3832,149,885,891,886,860,4519,9580,1647,3297,2300],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41492"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41716,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41492\/revisions\/41716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}