NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk hears the popular catchphrase “6-7” all the time at home, possibly more often than please and thank you.
Getting an earful of it at a women’s basketball game, well, that was new for the mother of three.
Baranczyk and the sixth-ranked Sooners became the latest college team to send fans into a frenzy when they hit 67 points in an 89-61 victory against North Alabama on Friday.
Hundreds of students on a field trip screamed their approval along with the ubiquitous phrase and juggled their hands up and down to mimic a video that went viral earlier this year.
Sports viewers might have seen the motion before, perhaps in six or seven NFL games.
“I did not do it because I was like, ‘Yep,’” said Baranczyk, who has a son and two daughters. “I knew it. But I’m like, ‘Gotta give the people what they want sometimes.’”
Raegan Beers, who finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds in the victory, raved about the OU bench reaction. Teammates, assistant coaches and staffers celebrated simultaneously in similar fashion.
Beers said teammates Payton Verhulst, who made a 3-pointer to give Oklahoma a 66-33 lead, and Zya Vann were trying to draw fouls, presumably so they could shoot free throws.
“We got so excited to do that,” Beers said. “We knew the kids were going to get excited about that. That’s the joy of this game. That’s why I love this game. Just to have that energy in the building and lean into what is trending at the moment, which is 6-7, whatever that means. It was so much fun to have that moment and let the kids enjoy it.”
Dictionary.com made the viral term “6-7” its word of the year, and it isn’t even really a word. It’s a phrase kids and teenagers can’t stop repeating and laughing about while parents and teachers can’t make any sense of it.
The word — if you can call it that — exploded in popularity over the summer. It’s more of an inside joke with an unclear meaning, driven by social media.
Dictionary.com says its annual selection is a linguistic time capsule reflecting social trends and events. But the site admitted it too is a bit confused by “6-7.”
“Don’t worry, because we’re all still trying to figure out exactly what it means,” the site said in its announcement last month.
How did “6-7” become a thing?
It all seems to trace back to rapper Skrilla’s song from 2024 called “Doot Doot (6-7).”
That song started appearing in TikTok videos with basketball players, including the NBA’s LaMelo Ball who stands 6-foot-7.
Then a boy, now known as “The 6-7 Kid,” shouted the ubiquitous phrase while another kid next to him juggled his hands in a video that went viral this year.
That’s all it took.
So what does “6-7” mean? The real answer is no one knows, but it’s widely regarded as harmless. Unlike some other trends that have come and gone, there’s not believed to be an inappropriate backstory to the craze.
According to Dictionary.com, the phrase could mean “so-so,” or “maybe this, maybe that” when combined with the juggling hands gesture.
Merriam-Webster calls it a “a nonsensical expression used especially by teens and tweens.”
Regardless, it’s trending at basketball games when a team nears 67 points, and in football games when it’s time for a dance.
It happened at the Prairie View-Oklahoma State women’s game earlier this week and at an Air Force-South Dakota women’s game.
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Associated Press freelance writer Tim Willert contributed to this report.
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