Respondents to an annual Michigan faculty survey of overused and misused phrases and phrases say ” 6-7 ” is “cooked” and will come to an enormous full-stop heading into the brand new 12 months.
These are among the many high 10 phrases on the fiftieth annual “Banished Phrases Record,” launched Thursday by Lake Superior State College. The tongue-in-cheek roundup of overused slang began in 1976 as a New 12 months’s Eve social gathering concept, and is affectionately known as the listing of “Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and Common Uselessness.”
Round 1,400 submissions got here from all 50 states and quite a lot of nations outdoors the U.S., together with Uzbekistan, Brazil and Japan, based on Lake Superior State.
Additionally within the high 10 are “demure,” “incentivize,” “excellent,” “reward/gifted,” “my dangerous” and “attain out.” “My dangerous” and “attain out” additionally made the listing a long time in the past — in 1998 and 1994, respectively.
“The listing positively represents the fad and vernacular developments of the youthful technology,” stated David Travis, Lake Superior State College president. “Social media permits a higher alternative to misconceive or misuse phrases. We’re utilizing phrases which are shared by texting, primarily, or by posting with no physique language or tone context. It’s very simple to misconceive these phrases.”
Few phrases in 2025 befuddled dad and mom, lecturers and others over the age of, say 40, greater than “6-7.” Dictionary.com even picked it as their 2025 phrase of the 12 months, whereas different dictionaries selected phrases like “slop” and “ rage bait.”
However what does “6-7” really imply? It exploded over the summer time, particularly amongst Gen Z, and is taken into account by many to be nonsensical in which means — an inside joke pushed by social media.
“Don’t fear, as a result of we’re all nonetheless making an attempt to determine precisely what it means,” the dictionary’s editors wrote.
Every quantity might be spoken aloud as “six, seven.” They even might be mixed because the quantity 67; at faculty basketball video games, some followers explode when a staff reaches that time whole.
The location of “6-7” on the high of the banished listing places it in good firm. In 2019, the centuries-old Latin phrase “quid professional quo” was the highest requested phrase to ban from standard use. In 2017, ” faux information ” obtained probably the most votes.
Alana Bobbitt, a 19-year-old sophomore on the College of Michigan in Ann Arbor, is unapologetic about utilizing “6-7.”
“I discover pleasure in it,” Bobbitt stated. “It’s slightly bit foolish, and regardless that I don’t perceive what it means, it’s enjoyable to make use of.”
Jalen Brezzell says a small group of his associates use “6-7” and that it comes up a few occasions every week. However he gained’t utter it.
“By no means. I don’t actually get the joke,” stated Brezzell, a 19-year-old sophomore on the College of Michigan-Dearborn. “I don’t see what’s humorous about it.”
However banning it, even in jest, may be a little bit of a stretch, he stated, including that he does use different phrases and phrases on the listing.
“I’ve all the time used the phrase ‘cooked,’” Brezzell stated. “I simply assume it obtained standard on the web over this previous 12 months. It’s saying, like, ‘give it up, it’s over.’”
Among the phrases do have longevity, Travis stated.
“I don’t assume they’ll ever go away, like ‘on the finish of the day,’” he stated. “I used ‘my dangerous’ at the moment. I really feel comfy utilizing it. I began utilizing it once I was younger. Plenty of us older persons are nonetheless utilizing it.”
Travis stated that whereas some phrases on the listing “will stick round in perpetuity,” others will likely be fleeting.
“I believe ‘6-7,’ subsequent 12 months, will likely be gone,” he stated.
