BBCs Wordhunt - nobody used the word mullet before 1994? Really?

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Prompted by finally watching that Balderdash and Piffle show on BBC2 (with the lovely Victoria Coren, mmmmmmm . . . ) I went to the BBC website to see what words they didn't know about.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/wordhunt/

Apparently, the earliest the OED can find the word "mullet" (as in the huge hair) is in 1994, which seems awfully late. What did people call mullets in the 80s then?

Also, other words . . .

― Johnny B Was Quizzical (Johnney B), Thursday, 12 January 2006 09:54 (twenty years ago)

Article about the origin & etymology (mullethead = old word for someone stupid), Beastie Boys were probably the first to use the word for a neck blanket...

― StanM (StanM), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:07 (twenty years ago)

I don't remember hearing "mullet" before the 90s, no.

What did people call mullets in the 80s then?

Chris Waddles.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:13 (twenty years ago)

i fucking hate victoria coren.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:17 (twenty years ago)

Well yeah, that goes without saying.

― Flower King of Flies (noodle vague), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:17 (twenty years ago)

I mean it takes a special kind of talent to out-smug her old man.

― Flower King of Flies (noodle vague), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:18 (twenty years ago)

Inform yourselves please. Thankyou.

"The Mullet thrived as a status symbol for thousands of years throughout what is now Poland, until 1939..."

http://members.tripod.com/cpratt1999/mullet/

― Kiwi, Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:20 (twenty years ago)

I don't remember noticing "noodle vague" before 2006

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:21 (twenty years ago)

Was the Kajagoogoo a mullet variation?

― StanM (StanM), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:22 (twenty years ago)

2006?

― Flower King of Flies (noodle vague), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:27 (twenty years ago)

the beloved's brother once referred to Bono's hair as being "short, a bit long at the back... you know, normal". This indicates that back in the 1980s no word was required fo the mullet.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:41 (twenty years ago)

When I was growing up, I think you might have been dubbed "a Kevin" for having one.

― Alba (Alba), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:51 (twenty years ago)

haha

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:55 (twenty years ago)

I remember being astonished, when I studied in the UK in 1998-99, that tons of people knew what mullets were. Not only did I assume it was only known in the U.S., but at that time I thought the term was still pretty fringe -- like, I mean, hipsters would know what a mullet was, but it was by no means a household word. (I had only first heard it in maybe 1997, myself.) Within just a couple of years, that seemed to change pretty drastically.

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 12 January 2006 10:58 (twenty years ago)

What year did Sure Shot by Beastie Boys come out? Has Mullet Head on B-side - I think it was 1994, but it could have been 93?

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 12 January 2006 11:00 (twenty years ago)

from about 1991-1993, my mate woose had a tremendously bad eighties-footballer-style 'do that was, in effect, a curly mullet (with big sideburns too). however, the word "mullet" hadn't reached blackpool, so we called it his "footy locks".

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Thursday, 12 January 2006 11:01 (twenty years ago)

the grand royal 'mullet' article was '94, 'sure shot' was nov '94.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 12 January 2006 11:11 (twenty years ago)

I am quite certain that the word 'mullet' was used while I was in 6th form, i.e. 1988-1990

― Zora (Zora), Thursday, 12 January 2006 14:14 (twenty years ago)

Before the blanketing of Mullet (yeah, the uptake was due to the Grand Royal article) Minnesotans called it hockey hair. Thereafter a fashion mullet was known, at least in my circs, as a muillet.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 12 January 2006 14:22 (twenty years ago)

in toronto, we called it "hockey hair" or simply a "short-long". I never heard "mullet" in the eighties.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Thursday, 12 January 2006 14:57 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't it referred to as the Billy-the-Fish haircut back in the day?

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Thursday, 12 January 2006 15:01 (twenty years ago)

Suzy OTM re: "hockey hair".

― Dan (Heh) Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 12 January 2006 15:03 (twenty years ago)

I don't remember there being a word for it in the 80s. In the mid-80s just about every pop star and footballer (and teenager at my school) had long hair at the back, then it suddenly stopped being fashionable in about 1987.

― Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Thursday, 12 January 2006 15:08 (twenty years ago)

i fucking hate victoria coren.
-- Theorry Henry (miltonpinsk...), January 12th, 2006. (Enrique) (later)
Well yeah, that goes without saying.

-- Flower King of Flies (noodle_vagu...), January 12th, 2006. (noodle vague) (later)

Would you care to meet me in the car park afterwards?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 12 January 2006 15:47 (twenty years ago)

you're on, buster.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 12 January 2006 15:56 (twenty years ago)

I remember calling it hockey hair at least as far back as 1989. In Canada. Also "Business in the front, Party at the back!"

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 12 January 2006 16:06 (twenty years ago)

Some elegant variations:
Tennessee Tophat
Kentucky Waterfall
Missouri Compromise

Translation of "hockey hair"
Hockeysveis

― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Thursday, 12 January 2006 16:16 (twenty years ago)

Oops. Here is your new improved link:
Hockeysveis

― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Thursday, 12 January 2006 16:19 (twenty years ago)

As a child in the eighties, that's what I called "long-hair". When metal and grunge came in, it was very strange to see people with long hair all over because they looked like girls!

― Wogan Lenin (dog latin), Thursday, 12 January 2006 16:21 (twenty years ago)

I remember the 'back perm' in 1980s West Midlands : a mullet permed at the back. AFAI can remmeber, an unpermed back perm didn't have a name.

― bham, Thursday, 12 January 2006 16:23 (twenty years ago)

Jaromir Jagr to thread!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 12 January 2006 16:23 (twenty years ago)

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