As parents of teens, Kim and I are always trying to keep up with the latest slang. Which is super-challenging given the speed with which kids keep using new words and phrases. Skibidi, bussin, rizz, slay, cooked, delulu, the list goes on and on. At first, it’s easy to be annoyed at the new lingo and get all fuddy-duddy and roll your eyes at what kids say these days. But when you think back, your generation, whichever one you fall into, had its own lingo that was not for anyone outside your age group. The word “cool” or the phrase “my bad” are perfect examples. When they were first used, only young people used them, but eventually both have crept into everyday language across generations.
So we love it when we can work words like “rizz” and “slay” into our conversations and watch Abby and Maddy roll their eyes. (Click here for a really funny video of a dad embarrassing his daughters with Gen-Z slang.) The latest phrase craze has been “six-seven.” Apparently, it came from a song called Doot Doot (6 7) by Skrilla (watch and listen at your own risk), which was then used in TikToks about basketball players, especially LaMelo Ball, and those videos went viral. As a result, teens have started making their own “six-seven” videos and repeating the phrase constantly and often nonsensically.
The way it is also being used is to describe something you are unsure of or something that is of unknown quantity. The thing is, the first time we were discussing this phrase at the dinner table, a line from Evita kept creeping into the back of my mind. If you’ll indulge me, we’ll head down another rabbit hole… In the song Don’t Cry for Me Argentina, the first verse ends with the lines, “Although she’s dressed up to the nines, At sixes and sevens with you.”
And then we were talking about six-seven with friends, and later they sent us a note that said that the phrase sixes and sevens is actually an old English idiom from the 14th century, meaning a state of confusion, disorder, or disarray – coming from a dice game called hazard, where throwing a six or a seven was a risky or reckless bet. You can find the phrase in Shakespeare’s play Richard II, Act II, Scene II, “All is uneven, and everything is left at six and seven.”
Given that the current use of the phrase seems to originate from a rapper and basketball players on TikTok, I’m not sure there is a connection between the centuries-old usage I discovered and today’s six-seven trend. But to quote a really old book, Ecclesiastes 1:9: “There is nothing new under the sun.” In the end, I think each generation is just trying to find their place in the world, and communication is one of those ways in which we carve out a spot. We were all young once and probably made our parents’ eyes roll on more than one occasion.
I tell you what IS far out, or cool, or rad, or lit, or bussin’, you choose your favorite way of describing it. It’s the start of Fall Veggie Season in Florida. While neighbors up north are packing away their clippers and gloves, you get a chance to plant for the fall and winter season. This weekend is our first Garden Hoedown. On Saturday at 10 am, we’ll have our annual Fall Veggie Seminar where you can come out and learn all about the great veggies that we can get started at this time of the year. Then following the seminar at approximately 11 am, I’ll do an EarthBox demonstration planting. And then the fun really starts. At noon, Miss Emily, line dancing instructor, will be at the Nursery to teach us a few line dances, and we’ll dance on the boardwalk together, Garden Hoedown-style. Boots and hats are a must! And all weekend, we’ll have fun for the kids and the kids at heart plus information on growing great veggie gardens in Florida. Come join us and let’s get the fall season started. While you’re here, I dare you to ask one of the staff how many plants you need. You know what the answer will be. Six-Seven.
