© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The internet’s obsession with ‘6-7’ has officially spilled over into Google Search. The tech giant has slipped in a playful Easter egg that activates when users type “6-7” or “67” in the search bar.
Instead of a static results page, the screen begins to shake, mimicking the hand gesture often linked to the meme, palms facing up, moving slightly up and down as if weighing two options. The animation works across both desktop and mobile, adding to the meme’s ever-growing digital footprint.
Which naturally raises the question: why 67? What is it about this seemingly ordinary number that convinced Google to build a dedicated animation around it?
Like many internet phenomena, the ‘67’ meme appeared suddenly and spread rapidly, leaving much of the audience confused but curious. On the surface, the number appears meaningless, and that’s exactly the point. Its randomness is central to its appeal.
There’s no single, fixed definition. According to Dictionary.com, some people read “6-7” as meaning “so-so” or “maybe this, maybe that.” Others use it entirely on its own, simply to provoke laughter or confusion, without any clear intention behind it.
Because of this ambiguity, Dictionary.com classifies “6-7” as an example of “brainrot slang,” a type of expression designed to be deliberately absurd and nonsensical, much like last year’s viral term ‘skibidi’.
“Brain rot”, which was named Oxford’s Word of the Year for 2024, refers to the perceived decline of mental sharpness caused by consuming large amounts of shallow or low-effort online content.
There’s a layer of irony here: the ‘67’ meme thrives precisely because it lacks a universally accepted meaning. Its humour depends on being out of place. People often drop it into conversations where it clearly doesn’t belong, leaning into sarcasm and irony rather than logic.
It also functions as an inside joke. Those in on it pretend to understand, while everyone else is left puzzled. That confusion, in turn, fuels engagement; people ask questions, try to decode it, and unknowingly help the meme spread even further.
In October, Dictionary.com named ‘6-7’ its Word of the Year.
“It’s part inside joke, part social signal and part performance,” Steve Johnson, director of lexicography for the Dictionary Media Group at IXL Learning, said in the news release announcing the selection. “When people say it, they’re not just repeating a meme; they’re shouting a feeling. It’s one of the first Words of the Year that works as an interjection – a burst of energy that spreads and connects people long before anyone agrees on what it actually means.”
Google’s nod to the trend fits into a long tradition of hidden jokes embedded in its search engine. Typing “do a barrel roll” makes the page spin, while “askew” tilts it slightly. Over the years, similar terms have unlocked brief animations or interactive surprises, small moments of fun tucked inside an otherwise practical tool.
