By now, you’ve probably heard “6 7”. The upturned palms, the half sing-song delivery, the confusion it sparks among adults who are clearly not supposed to get it. I encountered it firsthand in Cremorne, when a group of 8-year-olds decided to semi-heckle a bunch of us grown-ups by chanting the phrase on repeat.
Is it a meme, peak brainrot, yet another fleeting viral moment, or a sign of evolving language?
Whatever it is, it’s made waves, even been crowned Dictionary.com 2025 Word of the Year. The irony, of course, being that it’s not a word at all.
“6 7” is fading now that the grown-ups are on to it, with signs of “41” (spoken as the good old-fashioned whole number) taking over. These mean nothing conventionally, but they’re loaded with meaning from a social psychology perspective, revealing valuable insight into how this generation communicates.
Gen Alpha are cognitively wired for instant verbal and visual communication, with an innate ability to communicate abstract ideas in a simple way, bypassing intellectual complexity.
While these expressions have originated from mass pop culture catalysts such as music, sports, films or content creators - they end up as deeply personal expressions of identity. Offering quick and relatable ways to communicate individuality, personality, interests, ideologies or even a little rebellion.
If like me you’ve tried asking a tween or teen what these expressions mean, you’ve been met with a blank stare or an eye roll at best.
It’s not for outsiders, as these shared symbols and cryptic language codes strengthen social bonding, tribalism and serve as status enhancing social currency to signal cultural awareness or coolness.
Humour is a well-established social coping mechanism to deal with anxiety or boredom. Gen Alpha processes challenging emotions indirectly via playful or ironic language which is used as a tool to navigate the complexities of modern life, including stress, expectations or even societal challenges.
Humour goes beyond fun, as it holds the power to shape attitudes, opinions and cultural norms. Gen Alpha is using their own seemingly absurd and bizarre style of humour to challenge authority, discuss global issues and make sense of their roles in the world.
While Gen Alpha already wield influence over household decisions, within as little as the next three years they’ll enter the workforce with autonomous purchasing power.
In a study we conducted at Nature, 67% teens said they would be open to ‘Brands or retailers using language you and your friends use in advertising’. Sounds brilliant but how can brands speak to them when as soon as brands jump onto something it becomes uncool.
When brands try to replicate or partake, they risk stripping cultural context of its meaning.
The lesson? Don’t partake or replicate. Build your own, fuel it and set it free.
Perhaps the deeper truth here is that you can’t tell this generation what to do. They want independence, autonomy and control. Brands need to respect that, not fight it. Brands must create space for them to set the tone, to participate, remix, reject or reinvent in ways that feel genuinely theirs.
Language will always evolve, but Gen Alpha are taking it to a new level. From slang to memes to cryptic numbers and symbols, they're creating an entirely new enigmatic code of language that defies traditional meaning.
Maybe Douglas Adams saw this coming back in 1979, when his fictional supercomputer in ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ declared the meaning of life to be ‘42’.
If this trend keeps up, maybe alpha-numeric codes are next, and Elon will have the last laugh on all of us.
Aliya Hasan, Head of Strategy, Nature.
