Perhaps you have already noticed a strange reaction when the number 67 is mentioned in conversation, especially among younger people. They then begin to sway their shoulders, gesture with their hands as if they weigh something, and say “six-seven” out loud.
This phenomenon, which came from the United States and spread through social networks, quickly spread around the world. And he seems to have even reached the Vatican and won over the Pope. In recent weeks, Leo XIV has made the gesture several times in public. This was the case again on Saturday June 6 during a trip by popemobile as part of his trip to Madrid.
Already, last May, the Pope surprised by miming a “six-seven” in response to the request of a group of young people received at the Vatican. Then he did it again a week later during a trip to the Italian town of Acerra.
In France too, the expression has been talked about a lot lately. In March, during a weather report on France 2, presenter Sébastien Thomas used the expression when mentioning “the Bas-Rhin, the 67”. The French Church has not remained unmoved either. A month later, Mgr Philippe Ballot, the bishop of Metz, repeated the gesture during a mass celebrated in Lourdes in front of more than 600 laughing middle and high school students.
If this reference leaves adults perplexed, it immediately speaks to younger people, familiar with this trend born on the TikTok platform. The hashtag #67 has millions of publications. But what does this expression mean? This is precisely where the mystery lies: it doesn’t really make sense. Its aim seems above all… to drive adults crazy.
Originally, it would come from the rap song Doot Doot (6 7), released in 2024. The artist Skrilla himself admitted not having given it any precise meaning, which corresponds well to current usage.
Became popular with basketball
At the beginning of 2025, the phrase goes viral on social networks. The adolescents repeat it, lengthening the pronunciation and accompanying everything with a gesture of their hands. Very quickly, the phenomenon spread to American schools, where students began to repeat “six-seven” as soon as they heard someone say it.
Basketball, very popular in the United States, also helped spread the trend. Clips of LaMelo Ball, who stands 6 feet, 7 inches (2.01 m) tall and goes by “six-seven” in English, have circulated widely online. Another video viewed millions of times, showing a young boy shouting “six-seven” in the middle of a match, also helped to popularize this “meme”.
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As is often the case, brands followed the trend. In the United States, the restaurant chain Pizza Hut sold chicken wings for 67 cents each. McDonald’s offered nuggets in some countries between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. And even Google had fun with the concept by making the results page oscillate when you search for “six seven”.
The phenomenon was also taken up in the animated series South Park, very popular in North America. In one episode, one of the schoolchildren goes to meet his classmates using the formula: “This morning I woke up at six seven”, “I was stuck on the six seven exercise”. Each time, his friends repeat the expression, amused.
Basically, the real reason for its success is simple: young people enjoy it precisely because adults don’t understand. It’s a collective and absurd joke, which adds to the numerous (and sometimes infuriating) expressions that went viral before disappearing. This was the case with “quoicoubeh”, very popular three years ago and now forgotten.
