'Six-Seven' Is Over

"It goes like this: When six and seven appear together in print, or in speech, or on television, or in a YouTube video, or even just when you write them down on loose-leaf paper, that's "six-seven." "Six-seven!" you say, you probably being a middle-school-age child. Such is the youth phenomenon known by this name. Now you know, but chances are you already did, especially if a preteen has lived in your house anytime since this spring."

"Six-seven-ing seems to have peaked around Halloween, and now, as the holidays descend, its days are numbered. My own 11-year-old never liked it (a culture of contrarianism pervades the Bogost residence), but now she actively scorns it. "The memes will reset on New Year's Day," she recently announced. I hear the same from other parents of kids her age. Worse, parents are now saying "six-seven" (as are sports leagues and fast-food chains), which is of course fatal for anything that kids find cool."

Six-seven is a childlore tic where the juxtaposition of the digits six and seven in any medium prompts the exclamation "six-seven." The phenomenon spread widely beginning in March through a few popular online videos and surged among middle-school-age children. The trend peaked around Halloween and declined during the holidays. Many preteens now scorn the tic, and parental, commercial, and institutional use of "six-seven" has accelerated its disappearance by removing exclusivity. Six-seven exemplifies childlore alongside jump-rope rhymes, teasing doggerel, cooties, the "cool S" doodle, paper fortune tellers, MASH, and playground rituals and superstitions.

Read at The Atlantic