Fishing Contest

Who can catch the most mullets ? Please post your descriptions of the mullets you serve in the dining room and lounge through Labor Day. Just in case you can not find Mullet on the menu, here is a little help:

Mullets have become so popular--to mock-- that the Web is packed with sites such as MulletMadness , RateMyMullet , and PlagueOfTheMullet .

Favored terms for variations include the Frolet(an Afro/mullet combo), the Mulletino(a Latino mullet), the Skullet(long in back, bald on top and our favorite, the Chullet(a child's mullet).

The "party-in-back, business-in-front" style cropped up in the late '70s with glam rock, but some say the name itself came from 19th-century fishermen who grew long hair in back to keep warm--thus the term mullet.

Melanie Ash Peterson, senior art director with Supercuts, says mullets peaked in the '80s, as pop and punk musicians adopted big and pouffy ones.

Contry singer Billy Ray Cyrus latched onto an extreme mullet-style in the '90s, then abandoned it, leaving other aficionados to twist in the wind. A calmer version -- collar-length in back -- remains popular in salons today, she said.

"There's always a percentage of the population that doesn't care or doesn't know [it's being ridiculed]. They just like it. And anyway, hair is a statement you're making about yourself, and we shouldn't say one style is wrong."

The mullet is beloved among some Southerners and blue-collar workers --see Joe Dirt-- but it can pop up anywhere, she noted. Why sport one? Often, it can be a sign someone doesn't know if he wants long or short hair, Peterson said.

"The mullet is also low-maintenance, which can be a draw."