Heaven help us, there’s a new tween buzzphrase ready to drive us all crazy – have you heard it?
Six-seven? That meaningless phrase is, like, so last week. Here’s the new middle school earworm driving parents and teachers potty – and it’s actually a throwback to the ’90s.
Teachers are reporting the viral tween saying “6-7” has peaked and is starting to wane, but something else is taking its place in classrooms: The doy doy doy trend – and they’re not happy about it.
Also described as a duck mating call, it’s a bit like a cartoon-style trumpet sound made when the hand is cupped around the mouth and the pinky finger extended and either “girl girl girl” or “doy doy doy” is said.
First popular in the 1990s, the new iteration has been dubbed a “middle school earworm”.
There’s even a frenzied dance move to go with it ... yes of course there is.
Popular Australian TikTok teacher Mr Lindsay, who has 783,000 followers, talked about it in a recent clip, noting that it’s “another trend kids are using”.
“Over the last couple weeks, you’ve probably seen an uptick in your kids in your classrooms and at home, making this weird noise with their hands over their mouth like this, saying either girl, girl, girl, or doy, doy, doy,” he said.
“There are tutorial videos going around on TikTok on how to do it, the best way that you possibly can and on getting messages from teachers and parents all over the nation saying that their kids will not stop doing that doy, doy, doy thing.
“It doesn’t mean anything at this moment, but if you haven’t seen it already, it’ll probably be seeing it very, very soon.”
The resurgence of the meaningless noise is thanks to streamer Kai Cenat.
Cenat was interviewing Howie Mandel, a judge on America’s Got Talent, when he said he wanted to show him a talent. To the tune of Rihanna’s Diamonds, he put his hand to his mouth and made the “doy doy doy” sound with his lips – and within days it had gone viral.
Teachers have started posting about classes being interrupted by kids making the noise, with some suggesting it’s set to overtake 6-7 as the top classroom annoyance.
These include Emma Benli from Classroom Planners, who posted about it on TikTok.
“Do I even want to learn how to do it? No, but is it doing my head in once again? Yeah,” she said.
“Is it more annoying than 6-7? Yes. Why is it that as soon as one thing’s dying down, the next thing’s on rotation?
“Like, give us a week break at least, you know what I mean? I wonder what the next thing’s gonna be!”
Parents are also protesting the craze, with American entrepreneur Hilaria Baldwin noting that her son thinks his generation “thinks they invented everything” but then shocks him by doing it herself.
Another US middle school assistant principal made the same point, saying there was “no point in it and it’s been around since I was in school”.
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Originally published as Heaven help us, there’s a new tween buzzphrase ready to drive us all crazy – have you heard it?
