KIDS OF a certain age run away from adult terms (Shutterstock).

OK, hipsters … 6 7. As in 6, followed by 7.

If you don’t know what that is, it’s the latest middle school inside joke that’s spreading through the nation.

We only know about it because of our own platoon of grands, who – like all generations before them – have sought to keep the older folks clueless about their culture.

As if each generation doesn’t go through the same trials and makes similar efforts to be secretive …

Our research indicates that the term began with a hip-hop recording, indicating (probably) the progression from one numbered track to the next.

In its pubescent form it suggests that it’s time to change the subject or move on. The Johnny Carson era coined the term “moving right along” from something weird or not as funny as the speaker thought it was going to be.

The desire to have a “private language” to protect your conversation from understanding by The Enemy (i.e., parents and teachers) goes back centuries. Black slaves inverted terms … “bad” meant “good” and poor Irish under English thumbs developed the “blarney” to confuse the Brits.

Other still-in-use verbal dodges include “I’m on my way” (I’m not, yet) and “How could you say that to me?” (how did you find out?) or “it is what it is” (there’s no point in discussing it further).

I’d say more but … eh … 6 7.