As the new school year settled in, I began teaching self-defense again at Tree House, Foothill Elementary’s afterschool program. I was determined to engage the younger students in our lessons.
However, the new group of children brought an unexpected challenge as they walked into the classroom. One wore a blue T-shirt, and in the middle of it, printed in white cartoon letters, was what has become my most dreaded number: 67.
Until that moment, I had not realized how prevalent the number had become. Of course, everyone knows the number itself, but to children nowadays, 6-7 is the funniest thing since sliced bread and means everything to them.
The 6-7 meme originated from the song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Lord Skrilla, which was released in December 2024. Combined with basketball player Lamelo Ball’s height, which is 6’ 7’’, the number became viral all over the internet in 2025. However, the meme quickly detached from its origin and is now a meaningless number paired with the hand motion of moving your palms up and down.
The fact that 6 and 7 are consecutive numbers is even worse: they appear together very often in daily language. This has become a frustration for many teachers — saying the numbers unintentionally would leave their students laughing for a full five minutes. In fact, many have banned the phrase in their classrooms due to how disruptive it is.
This numerical nonsense gets on my nerves for two reasons. First, there’s no longer a joke or meaning behind 6-7; the number combination is considered hilarious for absolutely no reason, which reveals a shocking level of brainrot in younger generations. Second, 67 is a large prime number — a major irritation in any math competition problem that involves factoring. After all these years of grinding problems, just seeing any prime number above 11 disgusts me.
While I won’t hate all of Gen Alpha for liking the number 67, I have no respect for you if you can’t help but laugh upon seeing it. I hope we can all move past brainrot and focus on what’s more meaningful.
