At sixes and sevens

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For the album by Sirenia, see At Sixes and Sevens.

To be "at sixes and sevens" is an English phrase and idiom, common in the United Kingdom. It is used to describe a state of confusion or disarray. The similar phrase "to set the world at six and seven", used by Geoffrey Chaucer, seems, from its context, to mean "to hazard the world" or "to risk one's life"^[1]. In Act 2, scene 1 of Shakespeare's "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar", Portia, in confronting Brutus about his state of anxiety says: "Why you are heavy, and what men tonight / Have had resort to you; for here have been / Some six or seven who did hide their faces / Even from darkness."

There are several other possible explanations, including one mention of a similar phrase with a different meaning in the Bible (Job 5:19).^[2] However, one of the more interesting possibilities is that it may have come from a dispute between the Merchant Taylors' and Skinners' Livery Companies.^[3] The two, which were founded in the same year, argued over sixth place in the order of precedence. After more than a century, it was decided that at Corpus Christi, the companies would swap between sixth and seventh and feast in each others' halls. Nowadays they alternate in precedence on an annual basis. This is unlikely to be the origin of the phrase, as Chaucer had used it over a century before,^[3] but could well have helped to popularise it.

Most likely, the term derives from a complicated dice game called "hazard".^[3] It is thought that the expression was originally "to set on cinque and sice"^[3] (from the French numerals for five and six). These are the riskiest numbers to shoot for (to "set on"), and anyone who tried for them was considered careless or confused.

An example of use of the phrase in modern popular culture is its inclusion in the lyrics to Don't Cry for Me, Argentina from the musical Evita. The lyrics reference the title character's rags-to-riches transformation: "All you will see is a girl you once knew, Although she's dressed up to the nines, At sixes and sevens with you."

(Compare with the Chinese phrase luanqibazao, with similar meaning, but instead uses the numbers seven and eight.^[4]^[5]^[6]