Revealed: The old-school equivalents of Gen Alpha's bewildering '6-7' craze - so, do you recognise any of them?

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The '6–7' craze was one of the biggest global fads of 2025, leaving many adults bewildered and frustrated.

It is a slang term, spoken aloud as 'six seven', accompanied by an arm gesture that looks like someone weighing something in both hands.

It has no real meaning but spawned countless social media videos and became so prolific across schools, teachers resorted to banning the phrase.

But experts have argued the infuriating fad is just part of an ongoing trend of children having a secret language.

A trio of academics from Australia, the US and South Korea have written an article explaining that '6–7' is 'only the latest example of these long–standing practices'.

'As media scholars who study children's culture, we didn't view the meme with bewilderment or exasperation,' they wrote on The Conversation.

'Instead, we thought back to our own childhoods on three different continents – and all the secret languages we spoke.'

So, do you recognise any of these old–school equivalents from when you were younger?

The '6–7' craze was one of the biggest global fads of 2025, leaving many adults bewildered and frustrated 

Pig Latin

This clever play on words involves taking the first consonant or group of consonants and moving them to the end of the word, then adding some sort of vowel sound such as 'ay', to confuse listeners.

For example, the word 'dog' would become 'og–day' while 'speak' would become 'eak–spay'.

Youngsters trying to covertly say 'Let's watch that movie tonight' would come out with 'Et's–lay atch–way at–thay ovie–may onight–tay'.

It became highly popular in the 1920s and 30s and endured for decades as a fun way to confuse people unfamiliar with the wordplay.

The Cool 'S'

This is a stylised symbol commonly drawn on notebooks and is created using 14 straight lines – but to this day nobody knows what it means.

Its origins are mysterious but the graffiti–like drawing became increasingly popular in the 1990s, appearing on exercise books across the world.

This diagram shows how to draw the 'Cool S' symbol, which has no obvious meaning but is drawn on notebooks around the world

Making an 'L' on your forehead with your finger and thumb became popular in the 1990s, and represented the word 'loser' (file image)

Forming an L–shape with your finger and thumb

This insulting forehead gesture, symbolising 'loser', gained widespread popularity in the early–to–mid 1990s.

It was heavily popularised by Jim Carrey's character in the 1994 film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, though its use predates the film. The sign was also referenced in the song 'All Star' by Smash Mouth, which appears in the film Shrek.

While its meaning is now well known and documented, there's a time when it would have left many adults baffled.

Remixing the words of hand–clapping games

'Historically, children have reworked rhymes and clapping games to draw on popular culture of the day,' the researchers said.

'Georgie Best, Superstar,' sung to the tune of 'Jesus Christ Superstar,' was a popular chant on UK playgrounds in the 1970s that celebrated the legendary soccer player George Best.

'And a variation of the clapping game 'I went to a Chinese Restaurant' included the lyrics 'My name is, Elvis Presley, girls are sexy, Sitting on the back seat, drinking Pepsi'.'

Children are constantly remixing the words to traditional hand–clapping games to reflect modern contexts, the researchers said (file image)

'One reason 6–7 became so popular is the low barrier to entry,' they explained.

'Saying '6–7' and doing the accompanying hand movement is easy to pick up and translate into different cultural contexts.'

They said that the simplicity of the meme allowed deaf children to participant and for children from different cultures to repeat the phrase in English.

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'The strange words, nonsensical games and creative play of your childhood might seem ridiculous today,' they concluded.

'But there's real value in these hidden worlds. With or without access to the internet, children will continue to transform language and games to suit their needs – which, yes, includes getting under the skin of adults.'

The team of experts included Rebekah Willett, Professor in the Information School at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, lecturer Amanda Levido from Southern Cross University in Australia, and Hyeon–Seon Jeong, a professor of Digital Media Education at Gyeongin National University of Education in South Korea.