‘67’ is an internet meme that has emerged through TikTok and Instagram reels in 2025 that has no meaning. The meaning of ‘67’ is that its meaning is that it has no meaning so, you can ‘67’ to anything. Indeed, you are cool if you say it.
‘Hey 67!’
There are a range of theories about its origins (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6-7_(meme) but etymology is not important to Gen Alpha. Some say it is connected to ‘brain rot’ but
‘Hey, ‘6-7!’
(https://www.9news.com.au/world/67-meme-usa-generation-alpha/06f4f524-6b9a-4eed-8e10-12dfcf734c40 )
In October dictionary.com named 67 as Word of the Year, a semiotic sign of our times.
How fascinating to repeat language that has no meaning and to do so because it has no meaning.
But then I thought, this is not that new, Safety does it all the time. For example, ‘vision zero’, what does that mean? When spoken to any fallible person on the planet, it has no meaning.
‘Hey, six, seven!’
Or, ‘all accidents are preventable’, another meaningless meme like ‘drift into failure’, ‘believe the impossible’, ‘blame fixes nothing’ or ‘people are not a problem to control but a resource to harness’. Safety seems pretty good at generating meaningless language too, then calling slogans ‘principles’ as a key to being ‘professional’.
‘Hey 67!’
I know let’s get out the engineers and lecture people in safety on ethics! Let’s get engineers to lecture people on zero as a moral goal.
‘Hey 67!’
When you have no desire for expertise in linguistics, semiotics, Poetics or the use of language, it’s pretty easy to speak gobbledygook to people in the name of safety.
Hey Safety! ‘67!’
Prof. Robert Long
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