Mullet ???

[peppy]

Why is that dodgy 80's hair-do called that ?
And also, why is the word ' drum ' used when referring to somebodys home ?
Ta xx

[Postdog]

I think drum = drum and bass = place.

[Quizmonster]

Chambers Dictionary suggests it may be from the dialect word 'mullethead' meaning 'fool'. Perhaps that was on the basis that the hairstyle may have been considered somewhat foolish!

[Quizmonster]

The Sunday Mirror obviously agrees with you as to the 'dodginess' of the mullet. Here's a quote from a 1998 edition, "The mullet...if you have one, then a word in your ear: Scissors."
In American English, a mullethead is a flat-headed fish and here's a quote from there in an edition of Harper's Magazine published in the 1860s about it, "Dat fish is a mullet-head; it hain't got any brains."
Seems the idea of daftness regarding the mullet exists on either side of the Atlantic!

[dr john]

Nice theory, but unfortunately drum predates drum 'n' bass by a couple of centuries. Eric Partridge suggested it was of Romany derivation: scroll down to 'Home sweet whatchamacallit' here for a discussion

http://www.word-detective.com/111703.html

[Quizmonkey]

Further to QM's answer, and for your info and entertainment, Chambers defines mullet as: "a hairstyle that is short at the front, long at the back, and ridiculous all round".

[Goodsoulette]

Quizmonster.... Does it really? I tell people these things without checking them and then I get laughed at. As you know from my hill sheep thing.

[joko]

from the side, the shape of the hair is somewhat like a fish too...