‘Six-seven’ viral slang floods classrooms across the UK as teachers report rising disruption

T he numbers six and seven have never caused so much trouble in maths class. A new poll of 10,016 teachers across the UK reveals that the viral slang “six-seven” is now the most frequently heard phrase in schools, prompting laughter, confusion, and disruption in lessons.

According to data from the Teacher Tapp app, 79% of secondary and 71% of primary teachers reported hearing pupils use the phrase during the week of 18 October 2025. What began as an internet meme linked to US basketball culture has now become a staple of British playgrounds... and a headache for teachers.

From TikTok to the classroom

The meme, pronounced “six seven” or “six sevv-an”, originated from the 2025 drill rap track Doot Doot (6 7) by American rapper Skrilla. Its meaning is unclear — some link it to 67th Street or the police code 10-67 used to report a death. The track went viral after being used in basketball highlight edits, especially those featuring LaMelo Ball, who is 6 ft 7 in tall, helping the phrase spread rapidly across social media.

The number gained further traction online when basketball player Taylen “TK” Kinney repeatedly used the phrase in Overtime Elite videos. It then exploded in March 2025 after a young boy, dubbed the “67 Kid”, was filmed shouting it at a basketball game while gesturing dramatically with his hands.

Social media users then adopted “6–7” as a versatile in-joke, part affirmation, part nonsense. And its ambiguity only accelerated its spread. The meme’s meaning remains unclear: some connect it to references in drill lyrics or basketball statistics, while others see it as a catch-all expression of excitement or irony.

A maths teacher’s nightmare

For teachers, however, the phrase has taken on a more concrete effect: chaos. Any mention of the numbers six or seven — on whiteboards, page numbers, or worksheets — can spark a wave of shouts across classrooms.

“It’s the most brain-dead meme in the history of brain-dead memes,” one London maths teacher told Teacher Tapp. “It’s meaningless and it’s just an excuse for some children to make noise.”

Maths teachers have been hit hardest. Teacher Tapp found that 86% of maths teachers had heard “six-seven” compared with 51% of early years and Key Stage 1 staff. “Six-seven is everywhere but especially in the maths classrooms, but what does it mean? No one knows. Not even the young teachers.”

Some pupils have even asked to have “67” painted on their faces for school discos, further fuelling the craze.

Shared slang across ages

The Teacher Tapp survey also reveals that slang once seen as the preserve of older pupils now spreads easily across age groups. Secondary teachers reported broader slang usage, but every word listed in the poll appeared in both primary and secondary schools.

After “six-seven”, the most commonly heard words among secondary students were “bro” (50%), “cooked” (42%), “brainrot” (19%), and “sigma” (18%). For primary pupils, “bro” (35%) and “brainrot” (25%) ranked next. Older slang terms such as “rizz” and “skibidi” — once dominant on TikTok — have started to fade.

Headteachers appear divided over how to respond. Some have issued detentions for disruptive chanting, while others are choosing to ignore it. Caroline Lowing, headteacher of Thorden School in Chandler’s Ford, in Hampshire, told the Daily Echo: “As with every craze, we just tend to ride the wave until it dies down. In my opinion, it will be over soon and we move on to the next thing.” As a solution, she suggest that “the best thing that we can do, as uncool teachers, is to use it ourself then it suddenly doesn’t become so cool to say.”

In the US, the Wall Street Journal reports that teachers are now avoiding splitting students into groups of six or seven. A Texas teacher explained that if they tell their students, “You need to do questions six, seven,” they all suddenly start shouting, “Six-seven!”

A reflection of Gen Alpha’s culture

The rise of “six-seven” fits within what researchers call the “brainrot” phenomenon: fast-moving, low-context memes that dominate Generation Alpha’s digital environment (born between 2010 and 2025). Linguists suggest that these phrases act less as vocabulary and more as social signals — short, meaningless codes that mark in-group belonging.

From “skibidi toilet” to “sigma” to “six-seven”, slang has become increasingly divorced from meaning, functioning instead as a badge of online participation. The reach of “six-seven” into classrooms underscores how internet humour now shapes real-world behaviour among even the youngest pupils.

What comes next

According to Teacher Tapp, the word “cooked” — slang for “finished” or “done” — is rapidly rising through the ranks, with nearly half of secondary teachers hearing it in recent weeks. Whether “six-seven” will fade or remain embedded in playground culture is uncertain, but few expect it to vanish overnight.

Whatever the future holds, maths teachers across the UK sincerely hope that it is not just more numbers.

GOING FURTHER

• 6-7 facts about slang | TEACHER TAPP

• What does the 6 7 meme in Southampton schools actually mean? | THE DAILY ECHO

• ‘What does it mean? No one knows’: six-seven meme invades UK classrooms | THE GUARDIAN

• Skibidi, sigma and slay: the most popular kids’ slang – and what it means | THE GUARDIAN

• LaMelo Ball's Unique Playing Style and Height Insights | TIKTOK

Sources:

▪ This piece was first published in Europeans TODAY on 23 October 2025.

▪ Cover: Dreamstime/Korwen.