Henderson - Mullet madness!: the haircut thats business up front and a party in the back

I attribute my success as an actor [in Thelma and Louise] to my hair....I believe that because of the mullet, director Ridley Scott was able to visualize me as the thief... Again, for Legends [of the Fall, 1994], even though I had grown the mullet out by then, I think it was because of my former mulletude that I was able to nab the role as a wife-stealing brother.

Brad Pitt

We know which of these guys wont find a girl at this partythe guy without the mullet!

A mullet: more than just a fish.

M ullet (mu lit), n: any of a family (Mugilidae) of edible, spiny-rayed fishes found worldwide in fresh and salt coastal waters and having a small mouth and feeble teeth, as the striped (or gray) mullet. They are frequently seen grubbing about in the sand or mud for microscopic plants, small animals, and other food. Mullets have served as an important source of food in Mediterranean Europe since Roman times. It is one of the most commercially harvested species of fish in Florida. Their average weight is two to three pounds. Four ounces of mullet has 130 calories.

There are many books on catching and cooking the mullet. This isnt another one. Mullet Madness! is not about rampaging fish, but about the rampaging hairstyle thats business in the front, party in the back. You know the do Im talking about: think Billy Ray Cyrus and his achy breaky heart, think Patrick Swayze in Road House. In the 1980s, the mullet was sported by countless singers, athletes, and actors (and actresses). Today, mullets are a little harder to find, but they can still be found all over the world. The mullet may be an acquired taste, but no one can argue that they are cleverly aerodynamic and functional. Some consider it a flattering hairstyle, allowing a man to have long hair, yet be able to look neat and well-groomed. With a mullet, he can let his freak flag fly, but by just pulling his hair back in a ponytail and tucking it under a collar he is ready for a meeting with a Fortune 500 CEO (maybe). Otherwise, he can let it just kick back and let the breeze blow through his long, luxurious hair.

A timeless styleblue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a mullet.

The mullet is more than a haircut. Its a way of life, a state of mind, an attitude. With little or no maintenance, the mullet insulates the neck in the cold; on warm days, it can be tied into a ponytail or even braided. Mullet sightings often elicit strong responses, pro or con. Its a haircut remarkable for its ability to offend, intrigue, entertain, intrigue, startle, and even excite. Some find the mullet noble, handsome, even graceful. Others find it crude, low brow, or rebellious. It has spawned a plethora of varieties. Common varieties like the skullet (shaved on top, long in back) and the femullet (female mullet) can be spotted in almost every American city or town. Sightings of varieties like the mullhawk (part Mohawk, part mullet) and the frolet (part Afro, part mullet) are rare.

So which came first, the fish or the hair? The fish, clearly. But how did the name of this fairly ordinary fish attach itself to this extraordinary hairstyle? According to Icelandic fishing lore, the fishermen who took to the sea in pursuit of these fish typically grew their hair long in the back in order to keep warm and dry on blustery days. Perhaps their quarry gave its name to their haircut. Frankly, we may never know the real history of the name, but that story is as good as any.

In America, a mullet head, probably in reference to the fish or possibly, in modern usage, as a reference to the haircut, is someone lacking in intelligence or common sense. Mark Twain used the term mullet-head in his classic of American literature, Huckleberry Finn, first published in 1885. Tom Sawyer says of his oblivious aunt and uncle: Theyre so confiding and mullet-headed they dont take notice of nothing at all. Over eighty years later, the term was used again in the 1967 Paul Newman movie Cool Hand Luke. The character Dragline, played by George Kennedy (who won an Oscar for his role), scolds a fellow card player for losing a pot to Newman, who was bluffing: Nothin. A handful of nothin. You stupid mullet head. He beat you with nothin.

The term mullet head is recorded in both the Oxford English Dictionary and the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, and various sources define it as meaning fool, blockhead, numskull, or foolish person. Knowing this definition, is it implied that those who favor the mullet hairstyle are blockheads, or fools? Is there a connection?

Perhaps the wordsmiths can provide the answer. Linguist John Algeo notes a usage of the term mull-head in England to mean a dull, stupid fellow, and he alleges a relationship with two senses of the verb mull, meaning to dull, stupefy, or to grind to a powder, pulverize. He concludes that the American word mullethead may derive from a corruption of the English word mull-head and that it became linked with the word for the fish by clang association.