"At Sixes and Sevens" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2022-07-26

0:00 - How to Say, “At sixes and sevens.”
0:39 - Examples of “At sixes and sevens.”
1:22 - Meaning of “At sixes and sevens.”
1:39 - Origin of “At sixes and sevens.”
4:41 - More Examples of “At sixes and sevens.”
5:33 - Conclusion

“At sixes and sevens.”

If someone says that someone, something or a situation is “at sixes and sevens”, it means that the subject is in a condition of disorder, disarray, confusion.

This idiom is quite common in British, Irish and Australian English, though you probably won’t hear it in Canadian or American English.

“Your bedroom is at sixes and sevens, please tidy up at once,” your mother might tell you after seeing the mess in your room.

Maybe you’re driving somewhere downtown, “There’s construction everywhere. The city’s roads are at sixes and sevens!”

“Our relationship is at sixes and sevens, perhaps it’s better to call it quits?” your friend might be asking for your advice regarding her boyfriend.

As you can see, describing something or someone as “at sixes and sevens” means that it is a mess, jumbled up, in chaos, disorganized.

The idiom, “at sixes and sevens”, has been around for at least 900 years, making it hard to pinpoint its origins with certainty.

There are quite a few origin tales, however; the most likely one relating to an English dice game called, “hazard”, from which the modern casino game of “craps” is derived.

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th century book, “Canterbury Tales”, he makes mention of hazard and uses the phrase, “set upon six and seven” to relate the idea of betting one’s entire fortune on a single throw of the dice.

Some of the other origin theories include the idiom being derived from an older French idiom, and coming from the Christian bible, albeit a version which was only published in 1611 by the Church of England.

Whatever the origin of “at sixes and sevens” is, it is interesting that idioms with the same meaning and similar usage of numbers can be found in other languages.

In Chinese, you might hear someone say that a dirty, disorganized, disheveled place is, “chaos-seven-eight-bad”.

You might hear, “the rope got mixed up” or “the bowmen and the nobles got mixed up” in certain Arab countries for messy situations.

In Japanese, someone might say that a situation or a person is “extremely crumpled”.

In French, you “might not know where to put your head” if you are at sixes and sevens.

In your own life, if you find that you’re at sixes and sevens, the best thing to do is to take a step back, remove yourself from the situation, so that you can reassess.

Don’t doubt the power of stopping, taking a break, taking a vacation to help you see things from a different perspective, see things more clearly, “get a handle on things”.

“Before my vacation, I felt like my life was at sixes and sevens, but now I can see that I’m completely unhappy at my job,” you might be talking to your mom on the phone.

Perhaps you’re trying to order a coffee, but the café is completely disorganized, “This place is at sixes and sevens! I’ve been waiting for over half an hour for my drink.”

“If we don’t hire more staff to clean up after the customers, our restaurant’s going to be at sixes and sevens every day,” one of your employees might be telling you.

So, the next time you see that someone, something or a place is disheveled, disorganized, disordered, be sure to say that it’s “at sixes and sevens”.

#superduperenglishidioms #englishidioms #idioms #proverbs

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sixes_and_sevens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazard_(game)
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/sixes-and-sevens.html
https://bonmots.net/2013/03/21/at-sixes-and-sevens/
https://www.slideshare.net/dr.shadiabanjar/arabic-idioms-lane-424
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/arabic-to-english/government-politics/5795860-%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%B7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%A8%D9%84-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84.html
https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-french/be-all-at-sixes-and-sevens