Happy 67 to you. (Or is it 23 skidoo?)

I'm so out of it, until I saw that Dictionary.com chose 67 as its Word of the Year for 2025, I'd never even heard it. Variously written as 6 7, 6-7, or six-seven, but always pronounced six-seven and never, ever, ever in a million years sixty-seven - it's a popular slang word among the kiddos, school- agers who use it for just everything and anything because - get this, old folks - it doesn't really have any meaning you can put your finger on. As Dictionary.com has it:

What does 67 mean? Well…it’s complicated. Some say it means “so-so,” or “maybe this, maybe that,” especially when paired with its signature hand gesture where both palms face up and move alternately up and down. Some youngsters, sensing an opportunity to reliably frustrate their elders, will use it to stand in for a reply to just about any question. (“Hello, darling child, how was school today?” “67!”) A perfectly timed 67 signals that you’re part of an in-group, and if you’re already using its emerging spinoffs six-sendy and 41, you might be even cooler. (Source: Dictionary.com)

I don't get it. But of course, as an old, I'm not supposed to. And you don't have to be an old-old to be excluded. I asked my 28 year-old niece what it meant, and she doesn't get it either. She asked her 19 year-old brother (her half-brother, and thus no relation to me - so not my nephew - but a good kid, and I'd be delighted if he were my nephew), and he told her that she was too old to get it. 

Although I'm old-old, I sure don't want to miss out on the cool factor, so I'll be getting sendy with 41. (Pronounced, as nature and God intended, forty-one and not four-one.)

I'm all for kids having their own special language. Me being me, I didn't adopt all the slang of my generation. For one thing, I don't believe I ever used the words groovy or far out other than sarcastically, or, in the case of the word groovy, when singing along to "The 59th Street Bridge Song." But noodge, bummer, bummed out, fink, grungy, munchies, catch some rays. All were part of my vocabulary. And they were certainly not part of the vocabularies of my parents. Other than the word bummer, which my mother used. But she used it in the German sense in that a person who was NG - one of my father's favorite expressions: No Good - was a bummer. In Liz speak, a thing or an event was not a bummer, while in her kids' speak, a bummer was never a person. Got it? Cool!

And I'm not surprised that Gen Alpha, the cohort following close on the heels of Gen Z, would adopt an expression that is meaningless, nihilistic. Just look at the shit-show they're inheriting. (Poor kids. To which I'm sure they'd reply - in txt, in TikTok - 67 or maybe 41.)

There were a bunch of words on the Dictionary.com shortlist.

One was agentic. I may have come across it, as its an AI word that "describe(s) technologies that can perform tasks autonomously and make independent decisions," and I've read quite a bit about AI. I've never used it, but likely will now. Or at least a lot more likely than I'd be to use 67.

Aura farming is all a part of the narcissistic craving for building yo' brand. Gag me with a spoon, I might have said here, if I'd ever been a bulimic Valley Girl. 

Broligarchy is a word I love, but a concept I heartily dislike. Bezos. Musk. Zuck. Blech. As we used to say in the restaurant biz, I'd be just as happy to 86 them.

Clanker is another word I love. 

It's commonly used to deride AI systems, chatbots, and other nonhuman technologies, and its rise mirrors growing unease over the role of AI in society.

What's not to love? Take that, you broligarchs! 

The 🧨dyanmite emoji is no more a word than 67 is. It can thank the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce romance, the TNT of all TNT's, for bringing this one into use for referring to a celeb couple in love. 

I'd never hear of the Gen Z stare, "a blank or expressionless look often attributed to members of Generation Z, particularly in workplace or retail settings," but I have seen it in action. Or inaction. As with the 67 nonsense, I can't exactly blame the young ones. 

Kiss cam gave us a bit of excitement, and definitely a cultural moment, last summer when a middle-aged couple - each married to someone else - was caught canoodling at a Coldplay concert. The viral moment ended up with loss of jobs and marriages. Sigh. Remember kids, there is no such thing as a private moment. 

Overtourism "refers to the overwhelming influx of visitors to popular destinations, leading to environmental strain, cultural disruption, and local frustration." Having been to Venice, I'm guilty of having contributed to it. Guess I'll have to knock Machu Pichu off my bucket list. Or would have to, if I'd ever intended to go there.

Tariff is an oldie but not so goodie. Too bad that the current occupant of the cheesily gilded Oval Office doesn't understand what a tariff is or does. 

Tradwife rounds out the shortlist. Remember "Purple Cow," a humorous bit of verse of yore? Let me update it for you:

I never saw a tradwife, I never hope to see one.

But I can tell you, anyhow, I'd rather see than be one!

Let's see what Merriam-Webster has to say when they come out with their Word of the Year.  

With that, I'll 23 skidoo. 

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Source for this groovy image: Alamy