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Thursday, April 24, 2003

Redneck lexicography... yeah, gotta love it.

Young lady, Beware ye of the mullet!!!

http://www.takeourword.com/TOW181/page2.html#mullet

I've always joked with friends about people who sport the mullet hairdo. I know that the haircut name could originate from something like the mullet fish, maybe, but I was wondering if you guys could tell me a little more history on the word mullet used as a haircut. Thanks!

This one has interested us, too, ever since we found out what that particular haircut is called. It has a few other names, too: Missouri Compromise, Guido, and neck blanket are some. Why would what many people consider a goofy haircut (there are make-fun-of-mullets web sites all over; just search Google for "mullet" and "hair") be named the mullet? The word is most widely known as the name of a fish, but it is also a term in heraldry, where it means "a figure of a star, having 5 straight points . . . Given as a mark of cadency for a third son". It also has some obscure meanings that we will not go into here. Which one of these uses of the word came to be applied to the 'do?

...

Take Our Word For It is a really fantastic popular linguistics/etymology webzine, by the way, which I should have plugged before, if I have not yet. Can't remember. Viva la mullet!

posted by Steve 4/24/2003 04:53:00 PM

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Thursday, April 24, 2003

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