The weird provocation the internet is melting over

The internet’s melting over ‘6-7.’ Dictionary.com crowned it the word of the year.

Gen Alpha loves it because it means, wait for it, nothing. Once, 6-7 meant average. Now it’s gleeful gibberish that signals who’s in the club and who’s still outside peering in, clutching a thesaurus like a vintage handbag.

As a leader, you know words matter. Here’s what I learned workshopping subject lines: one word can fling open the windows of attention.

I tested this with a headline grader, the picky online tool that scores headlines.
My first attempt: ‘What is the most boring way to start a story?’ Score: 81.
I swapped one word: ‘What is the most exciting way to start a story?’ Score: 93.

One word. Twelve points. Because ‘exciting’ is a mood word. It lifts a line from beige cardigan to sequinned jacket.

Before your next presentation, choose your mood word with intention.

A mood word sets the emotional temperature of everything that follows. Put it in your title or opening sentence so it creates the weather your audience walks into.

How to find it: read your line aloud and notice which word carries the emotion. Test a swap. If your voice lifts, keep it.

Hunt for thermostat words, not every word. These do the heavy lifting:
• Verbs that move things: detonate vs start, unravel vs explain
• Adjectives that set mood: raw vs honest, electric vs interesting
• Nouns that anchor the image: trapdoor vs risk, lightning rod vs controversial topic

Mark Twain said the right word beats the almost-right word like lightning beats the lightning bug.

I adore lightning bugs. But we both know which one lights up a sky.