“Six-seven”, the baffling phrase so loved by teens and tweens, is on its way out in 2026, according to a US college survey.

The phrase, whose meaning remains unclear despite it being everywhere in 2025, was among the top 10 words on the 50th annual Banished Words List released by Michigan’s Lake Superior State University.

The university’s tongue-in-cheek roundup of overused slang started in 1976 as a New Year’s Eve party idea. This year, it had about 1400 submissions from all 50 American states and other nations, including Uzbekistan, Brazil and Japan.

Also in the top 10 of words we’re likely to hear less of in 2026 were “demure”, “incentivise”, “perfect”, “gift/gifted”, “my bad” and “reach out”.

“My bad” and “reach out” also made the list decades ago, in 1998 and 1994 respectively.

“The list definitely represents the fad and vernacular trends of the younger generation,” Lake Superior State University president David Travis said.

“Social media allows a greater opportunity to misunderstand or misuse words. We’re using terms that are shared through texting, primarily, or through posting with no body language or tone context. It’s very easy to misunderstand these words.”

The university said “six-seven” had enough nominations to fill its whole banished words list – “at least slots 6-7”.

“It’s time for six-seven to be 86’ed,” nominator Scott T. from Utah said.

Few phrases in 2025 befuddled parents, teachers and others over the age of, say 40, more than six-seven. Dictionary.com even picked it as its 2025 word of the year, while other dictionaries chose words like “slop” and “rage bait”.

But what does six-seven actually mean? It exploded in 2025 especially among generation Alpha (those born between 2010 and 2022) and some younger gen Zers.

Even Victoria’s 52-year-old Premier, Jacinta Allan, turned to the phrase at a press conference in October – much to the bafflement of most of those assembled.

“What does it actually mean? It actually means nothing, it’s six-seven,” she said.

“Everyone with kids of a certain age … It doesn’t mean anything, that’s the point.”

It’s true the phrase is considered by many to be nonsensical – an inside joke driven by social media.

“Don’t worry, because we’re all still trying to figure out exactly what it means,” Dictionary.com’s editors wrote.

Each number can be spoken aloud as “six, seven.” They even can be combined as the number 67. At college basketball games, some fans explode when a team reaches that point total.

“Six-seven’s spot at the head of the banished list puts it in good company. In 2019, the centuries-old Latin phrase “quid pro quo” was the top requested phrase to ban from popular use. In 2017, “fake news” got the most votes.

Travis said some terms on the list “will stick around in perpetuity”, while others will be fleeting.

“I think six-seven, next year, will be gone,” he said.

-with AAP