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 on six and seven", used by Geoffrey Chaucer in his Troilus and Criseyde, dated about the mid 1380's, 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 for its origin, 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, in 1484 the then Lord Mayor of London Sir Robert Billesden decided that at the feast of 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 cinq and six"[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.
Compare this with the Chinese phrase qi shang ba xia (七上八下), with similar meaning, but instead uses the numbers seven and eight.[4]
Sebadoh member, Jason Loewenstein, named his 2002 debut solo Sub Pop album "At Sixes And Sevens"
American rapper Tech N9ne named his 2011 album All 6's And 7's after the idiom, insinuating that the album would be frenzied, as the idiom means a state of confusion.