Walk around campus – Lower School, Middle School, Upper School – it’s everywhere. You hear it. You see it. You join it. There’s no escaping it – the numbers, the hand motion, the laughter, it surrounds you. In class, your teachers say it. At convocation, the administration says it. And worst of all, while you grind Brawlstars your friends say it. Does it unite everyone? Perchance. Does anyone know why it’s so popular or why it keeps evolving? No. However, one thing is clear as mud. 6 7 is not going anywhere.
First things first: nobody knows how 6 7 became a meme or what it really means. The term originally comes from a silly Philly rapper, Skrilla, in his song Doot Doot, where he raps, “6 7, I just bipped right on the highway.” After some deep analysis, I have concluded that he probably meant, “at 6:07, I cruised past everyone smoothly on the highway.” But that doesn’t matter. The original context and meaning is irrelevant. What counts is how 6 7 lives on and evolves.
At SCH, 6 7 is spreading like a pandemic. You cannot avoid 6 7. Even in the Campus Lantern, you cannot avoid 6 7. And just like any other pandemic, it evolves. So if you thought 6 7 was dying, brace yourself. Experts are predicting the rise of many other 6 7 spin offs such as “6 sendy” and “41.” Some experts are even claiming “92,” a seemingly normal number will rise to the top of the 6 7 food chain. Science cannot confirm this yet. This is also besides the point. What matters is to understand this 6 7 epidemic at SCH, and how it has spread to every single part of student life.
Let’s start at Convocation. Convocation is a day where the community comes together and important figures in the SCH community introduce themselves and give speeches to kick off the new year. Of course, 6 7 flooded this event. Mrs. Banks, the head of the Parent Association not only ripped a 6 7 infront of everyone but also a 41. Most people would miss the significance of this, but Ethan Quinn, professional reel scroller, noticed every detail.
“During the convocation, Mrs Banks referenced 6 7 during her speech. All the younger students and even some high schoolers proceeded to move their hands while chanting six seven. At first I thought it was very funny to see the whole school in on one joke, and then I had an epiphany. I realized that 6 7 had infiltrated all parts of the classroom and I don’t know if this is for the good or the bad but it’s undeniable. 6 7 is massive, maybe even the most massive meme of the big 25. Overall I think the 6 7 joke is very enjoyable for all ages though. I spend at least 10 minutes a day laughing at 6 7 jokes,” Ethan says. And Ethan is right: for 6 7 to be mentioned at one of the biggest events of the whole school year in front of the entire community shows just how much SCH loves 6 7.
Now take a step back. And step into Mr. Zalasky’s AP Lang class. It’s one of the first days of school, and the juniors in this class are terrified. Who knows what to expect in their first AP class. Nobody was expecting to get sendy, but that’s exactly what happened. Matthew Lee, a junior here at SCH recalls, “We were learning about rhetoric; ethos and the importance of persuasion, pretty epic things you know. Then Mr. Z told us to open our books to page 6, then he paused. He corrected himself. We were actually supposed to flip to page 7. The class fell to silence. Page 6 or page 7?” It seemed like the perfect time for anyone to make a 6 7 joke, but everyone was too scared to speak up in the class. Making a 6 7 joke in AP Lang? Dangerous territory. The room is supposed to be sophisticated. Oh well…
“Then Mr. Z broke the silence,” Matthew continued, “6 sendy! He yelled. It was like magic to my ear. And with that, a new variant of 6 7 was born. No longer was 6 7 confined to the world of numbers, now 6 7 could get sendy too.” Lots of respect for Mr. Z for coming up with such a poetic saying.
During sports, 6 7 may be even more prevalent than in school. Varsity soccer player Micheal Iacovelli thinks that “this 6 7 thing is out of control. When we were in Middle School we had to act sophisticated. You couldn’t even chew gum in class and if you got caught… you don’t want to know the consequences. Nowadays, though, people just go around yelling these numbers at each other like we’re all 4 years old. The worst part is, 6 7 even spread to my coach.” Once again this 6 7 thing circles back to Mr. Z. Mike continued, “At school it isn’t the same, though. It seems like a new dialect has risen. It started with our coach but now the boys are saying it too. We don’t say 6 7 anymore, we preach 6 sendy.” At SCH, it seems like 6 sendy may be even more popular than the original 6 7.
Things aren’t as they seem, though. A normal person may assume Mr. Z is the ringleader or perhaps an innovator of 6 7 at SCH; that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Mr. Z is actually two steps ahead. He claims that if he can overuse 6 7, it will eventually die out because it won’t be cool anymore. Unfortunately for him, he’s just making 6 7 cooler and cooler with every new variation he comes up with. And because his efforts of taking down 6 7 seem to be failing, 41 is safely rising to the top.
So let’s look at the original spin off: 41. This one seems to be more popular with the artistic folk. “All it took was one song,” Sam Bevan, a Hilltone recalled. “Mr. Waterland told us to go to measure 41, the rest is now history. The class erupted. People screamed 41 or 6 7 or 92 – it was absolute chaos. Nothing gets us going like 41, though. The second we hear it, everything is derailed. It’s beautiful, really. I like it even more than 6 7, personally.” However, the Hilltones aren’t the only people that love 41 at SCH. Some people are even asking if 41 is the new 6 7.
With so many variants of 6 7, it may feel frightening or hard to keep track of. That’s because it is frightening. Why is this funny? Why is it popular? Is this the most massive meme of all time? Who knows…