If someone’s got your six, it means they’ve got your back. This expression comes from the placement of numbers on an analog clock, and appears to have originated with military pilots. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Got Your Six Origin”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, Grant. This is Julia calling from Portland, Oregon. How are you guys?
Julia from Portland. Well, welcome to the show.
Hi, Julia.
We’re super duper.
Hi, Martha.
What’s cooking? What can we help you with?
Well, I had a question about an expression that I learned about from a sci-fi fantasy show that you might be familiar with called Stargate SG-1.
I don’t know it.
You’re doing all of my geek cred here, right?
So it’s about a pack of Air Force folks, and they have an expression that is, I got your sixth.
And I take it to mean that it means that I have your back.
And I was curious about where that came from.
You know, I thought it was such an interesting expression, and I couldn’t put it together.
And I actually did a little research and still couldn’t find out any information.
This is the television show Richard Dean Anderson, right?
Yeah, it is.
Okay, so they’re Air Force folks thrown into this weird kind of intercultural relationship with people who use time portals or something like that, right?
Yes, in fact, I think you’ve seen it.
Maybe, once or twice. I liked the reboot a lot.
There’s Gransky, Corrid. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
I liked the reboot a lot with Robert Carlyle.
So what you’ve got here is this weird mix of jargon, but what are the circumstances in which they would use this term?
So they’re going out on a mission, and when does this come up?
Right.
So they’re going out on a mission, and maybe they’re pinned down by the bad guys,
And someone’s got to make a break for it.
And somebody else will shout, I’ve got your six.
Okay.
And so I take that to mean, you know, I’m watching out for your back.
Exactly.
Yeah, it does.
Look at a clock, an analog clock.
Put yourself where the hands cross and face the 12.
The six is right behind you.
Right.
That’s your six.
That’s your six.
It’s like if you’re at a party and you say, you know, there’s a cute guy at 2 o’clock, you know.
That’s right.
Then you look forward and a little bit to your right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And what’s going to happen now, a lot of people are going, oh, because this comes up in TV shows all the time and in movies all the time, and they don’t explain it.
They just assume that you know or that you, you know, just pass it off as jargon.
And now it’s going to be a little clearer what’s happening.
So they’ll say, I need you at 2 and you at 4 and I need you to hold back here at 7, right?
And this is just positioning yourself in order to take on the enemy.
Right.
Totally makes sense.
Yeah.
And then military, that piece of being able to clearly see based on a clock.
Right.
Right.
And it probably comes from aviation originally.
Right.
And sometimes pilots say to each other, check six, which means watch your back or be careful.
Right.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, probably first arose in the early part of the last century as a jargon in aviation.
You’ve got these people who are now lifted up off the ground
And kind of have to consider the world in a little different way.
You might not be fully cognizant of left and right or up and down
Because you’re in an airplane where these things matter a little less, right?
Right.
Yeah, so the etymology is really clear on that one, yeah.
Yeah, no, I love it. That’s great.
Well, Julia, thanks for taking time out of your busy video-watching day to call us.
We got your six.
Thanks, Martha. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much.
Cheers to you.
All right.
Take care.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
