Rodrigo Palacio
Rodrigo Palacio is bringing the rattail back. Reuters

If you thought the rattail was just an awful trend of the 1990s, you'd be wrong. Argentina’s Rodrigo Palacio sported a rattail throughout the World Cup, and when the final game against Germany came to a shootout, viewers across the globe got a look at his signature braid.

For those who don’t know what a rattail is, you’re lucky. Just kidding. It’s a 'do where the hair is short everywhere, except for a long, thin strand that resembles a rat tail.

The Urban Dictionary describes is as, “A rather nappy type of mullet carefully trimed so that the hair in the middle at the base of the skull forms a single, disturbingly long, strand resembling that of a rat's tail; often spotted on young ratty looking children whose parents don't know any better than to get them a decent haircut.”

What makes Palacio’s haircut different, or possibly more disturbing as the Urban Dicitonary would explain, is that his thin braid hangs from an off-center part off his skull.

While on Prima Serata, the Argentine soccer player explained his teammates teased him over his look. "Have I started a fashion trend with my braid? I don’t know. I grew it a long time ago, then I started to play football and kept it,” he said, according to Inter in 2013. “Do my teammates ever tease me and tell me they’ll cut it off? Yes, I cut a bit of it, but not completely because it’s become my trademark.”

Though his braid isn’t anything new, and might very well be his trademark, the World Cup Final was the first time many saw it. Twitter users, with the help of Photoshop, Sunday began to share pictures of Palacio’s rattail with characters or celebrities swinging from it.

One of the most popular ones was of Miley Cyrus while she was riding a wrecking ball from her hit single with the same name.

The amazing Spiderman found himself swinging from Palacio’s braid.

So did Tarzan.

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