I do think it’s really valuable to view 6 7 and other memes in a lens that isn’t primarily focused on any “degeneration” of the mindscapes of the youth. I watched way too much YTP as a kid for me to ever seriously judge gen alpha for liking tung tung tung sahur
you're right, the degeneration angle is so tired... brainrot is media, just like any other type. Tung tung tung sahur is good for the youth, and we must stand with him
David Crystal talks about "language play" as a foundational way that children experience language. To them, this meme is just that: goofing around with the boundaries of language. "Six seven" are supposed to be unrelated numbers, and it's silly to combine them into something with their own significance. It also helps, of course, that we're constantly primed to see the meme in the world around us
My 9 year old niece took part in a schools music programme in which opera singers from Glyndbourne Opera House visited schools across the county. The culmination of the programme was a concert at said opera house. After the concert the thing exercising my niece amid all the adult-approved activity was that on the feedback form the young people were asked to fill in about their experience, one boy had simply written 67… ‘I am Spartacus’!
Much appreciated! My kids thought I was hopelessly cringe for not knowing where 6-7 came from but thanks to you, I have found out they don’t know either!
Thanks for the sleuthing and thoughtful engagement. Don’t know if this is new or interesting, but my kindergartner came home this fall singing “six se-ven, e-le-ven, twentyse-ven, so heaven”.
The notion of this collective creative act of meme-ing/making (ha!) first really jumped out at me in the early 2010’s, and I was enchanted. Grateful for your scholarship of this fascinating sorta new-ish human endeavor.
i thought u might be interested to know that my korean students have started also saying “육 칠” (six seven in korean) in addition to saying “six seven” so it’s even transcended its original form
I do think it’s really valuable to view 6 7 and other memes in a lens that isn’t primarily focused on any “degeneration” of the mindscapes of the youth. I watched way too much YTP as a kid for me to ever seriously judge gen alpha for liking tung tung tung sahur
you're right, the degeneration angle is so tired... brainrot is media, just like any other type. Tung tung tung sahur is good for the youth, and we must stand with him
David Crystal talks about "language play" as a foundational way that children experience language. To them, this meme is just that: goofing around with the boundaries of language. "Six seven" are supposed to be unrelated numbers, and it's silly to combine them into something with their own significance. It also helps, of course, that we're constantly primed to see the meme in the world around us
My 9 year old niece took part in a schools music programme in which opera singers from Glyndbourne Opera House visited schools across the county. The culmination of the programme was a concert at said opera house. After the concert the thing exercising my niece amid all the adult-approved activity was that on the feedback form the young people were asked to fill in about their experience, one boy had simply written 67… ‘I am Spartacus’!
Much appreciated! My kids thought I was hopelessly cringe for not knowing where 6-7 came from but thanks to you, I have found out they don’t know either!
The Aussies have an old saying that reminds me of 67, Fair Dinkum.
Fair Dinkum has no definition of its own. However, Fair Dinkum is defined by the context that surrounds and how it is used at that particular moment.
Thanks for the sleuthing and thoughtful engagement. Don’t know if this is new or interesting, but my kindergartner came home this fall singing “six se-ven, e-le-ven, twentyse-ven, so heaven”.
The notion of this collective creative act of meme-ing/making (ha!) first really jumped out at me in the early 2010’s, and I was enchanted. Grateful for your scholarship of this fascinating sorta new-ish human endeavor.
exactly! 67 is definitely not the first meme to work this way, nor will it be the last. Thank you for your kind words and your appreciation :)
i thought u might be interested to know that my korean students have started also saying “육 칠” (six seven in korean) in addition to saying “six seven” so it’s even transcended its original form