Lemme tell ya – it ain’t easy being a visionary.

They laughed when we described the potential issue with people running around with their bluetooth earpieces stapled to the side of their heads like some kind of jewelry long after the call had ended. They snickered when we provided not only a term for the device – “asshat” – but the dork wearing it – “Asshat.” They shook their heads sadly at the thought that they themselves might actually be one of those “asshats squared” wandering around in public like some kind of Uhura without her post.

ToMAYto ... toMAHto ... ear mullet ... asshat

We took the heat, even though we knew we were right, because we knew that the day would come when we would be proven right.

And that day is today.

In their August 2009 issue, no less an authority on all things tech and cool – and tech cool – than WIRED Magazine has made it clear what they think of Asshats with asshats:

Admit it: You sometimes leave your Jawbone headset on after hanging up the phone. Perhaps spending your formative years watching The Six Million Dollar Man and RoboCop gave you the mistaken impression that upgrading your body with electronics is the height of cool. Let’s be clear: Walking around with a Bluetooth device in your ear is pure douchebaggery. There is no excuse for it.

In an article dedicated to the many fashion faux paus brought on by our newly technological lifestyles, they even committed the cover of the issue to the asshat dilemma.  Referring to their cover image of movie heartthrob Batt Pitt – playing the role of the Asshat with asshat – WIRED states:

Rule No. 52: Ditch the headset. He can barely pull it off — and you are not him,” a blurb on the magazine front says.

Smell that?  It smells like … victory!

WIRED even came up with a name for the thing that is just as cool as ours, and a little more socially acceptable – ear mullets. Asshat … ear mullet … they do roll off the tongue in a similar fashion, and both conjure up equally silly visual images. Being the benevolent kind of guy I am, I’ll accept the term “ear mullet” as the new description of the bluetooth device – but I’m keeping Asshat for anyone caught wearing it when not on a call …