The 6-7 Generation and politics

“6-7!”, THE TEENAGER replies, waving his hands in your face when you ask his thoughts on the news.

- RUDI BUYS

And on top of it, openly laughs and points at your confused look and raised shoulder and arms. “What on earth did he just say,” you think as the kid walks off, very much impressed with himself.

The number ‘six-even’ you discover later is a slang word that more recently went viral among tweens and teens around the world - a word part of the meme-culture of the most digital-savvy and always-online connected generation ever — Generation Alpha.

It is one of several internationally spread and used words among young people who find and join trends on social media platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, such as ‘skibidi, and ‘sigma. They use them to describe a whole series of happenings and experiences, respond to each other and comment on people of other generations who do not share their slang. All as if they have developed a language foreign to anyone not part of their globally linked in-group.