A new bizarre phrase being used by Generation Alpha is leaving Gen Z and Millennials stumped, with some teachers ‘banning’ the expression from their classes. 

Parents and academics, particularly in the UK and the US, are sharing their confusion around the rise of the expression ‘6,7’ that is taking over schools, classrooms, and family homes. 

Gen Alpha – children and teenagers born between 2013 and 2024 – are using the phrase in a range of different contexts, which is only adding to the bewilderment and confusion of older people.

And to make things more confusing for those outside of Gen Alpha, the viral phrase simply means ‘nothing’, while others have used the term to suggest that a person is ‘average’, and that they are ‘indifferent’ to them.

The origin of the ‘6,7’ comes from a song called ‘Doot Doot (6,7)’ by American rapper Skrilla.  

The Athletic explained: ‘6-7 means … nothing. For some, it’s a way to convey indifference, or whatever makes sense to the user.’ 

The phrase gained traction online with people making videos about their favourite basketball players, including LaMelo Ball, using the audio. 

When Athlete Taylen Kinney, 17, was asked to rank his Starbucks order, he screwed up his face and said ‘6,7’, thought to be referencing the meme. 

Other basketball players have now tried to sneak the expression into press conferences and clips as a way to impress and engage their fans.  

Since then, the expression has dominated classrooms, so much so that some teachers have actually had to ‘ban’ the phrase.

One wrote on Reddit: ‘I’m an 8th grade teacher and I am so done hearing it that I just banned it from my classroom. You can’t say the two numbers in a row without the class bursting out in a chorus of ‘6-7.’ 

‘It was funny at first, but now it’s just old and continually interrupts many class conversations.’

Mr R, a Gen Z PE teacher who is also a content creator, also commented on the viral phrase and said: ‘I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty sure my students pay more attention to when the numbers six and seven come up than they do in my PE lessons.’

He also said that when they were doing a warm up and counting to 10, the entire class was chanting ‘six, seven’ when it reached those numbers. 

The 27-year-old said: ‘I thought I was pretty clued on with all these trends and everything that’s going on but clearly not.’ 

One teacher, who goes by the name @thesandylion on TikTok, is using ‘6,7’ to get her students to quiet down and pay attention.

She filmed herself shouting ‘SIX’ before she got her 11-year-old pupils to reply ‘SEVEN’ before quietly listening to the teacher. 

Maya, who is 20 years old, also posted a video on TikTok joking about her Gen Alpha cousins calling her a ‘grandma’ for not knowing what ‘6,7’ meant. 

In Skrilla’s track, which was first released in December 2024, he says the lyric ‘6,7’ which seemingly refers to 67th Street in Chicago, according to Psychology Today. 

The South Shore area of the state was listed in Fox 32′s top 10 most dangerous neighbourhoods, listing that becoming a victim of crime in South Shore is ‘one in 13’.

This comes as content creator Summer Fox, from London, decided to test her knowledge of Gen Alpha’s vocabulary by asking her 12-year-old cousin to share a list of terms they frequently use. 

‘I’m convinced I was still down there with the kids, that I was up to speed with the slang, I’m only 27,’ Summer said in a video posted on Instagram. 

As soon as she read through her cousin’s ‘dictionary’ list, however, Summer quickly realised how out of touch she was. 

The first phrase Summer, who appeared confused by several terms, read out was ‘aura points’ and it’s a way to quantify how cool someone is and whether they bring good energy. 

Summer admitted: ‘I have heard of this recently and it did freak me out because I didn’t know that one. When someone says you’re gaining aura points, it means you’re giving off good energy, you’ve got cool vibes. I sound so old! 

‘Or people can deduct aura points from you, and be like “Ew you’re being so cringe, minus aura points”.’ 

The next word was ‘sigma’ that can be used in different contexts. 

As a complimentary adjective, it is used to describe someone as a dominant leader, lone wolf, someone who is cool and popular. 

On the other hand, ‘what the sigma’ also translates to ‘what the hell,’ Summer, who was perplexed by the word, said. 

She added: ‘I don’t understand, why sigma? What is sigma?’ 

The official definition of sigma is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet.

The next word on Summer’s list from her cousin was ‘skibidi’ that originates from a short web series called Skibidi Toilet, which was posted on YouTube in 2023.

The outrageous plot follows a war between toilets that have human-like heads and humanoids with CCTV cameras instead of faces – dubbed CameraHeads – and viral show has more than 65 million views on the American streaming platform. 

Summer said: ‘Apparently people are saying “What the Skibidi” which I assume means “What the hell”? I don’t mind that one because it sounds silly, so it makes sense.’