When a small group of parents gathered at a recent holiday party, the conversation turned to teen star Miley Cyrus and her "Best of Both Worlds" tour, which has taken the country by storm the past few months and will make a stop Sunday afternoon at the Bradley Center.

When a childless male latecomer joined the circle, he asked two simple questions, the second of which elicited a gaggle of guffaws:

"Are you guys talking about that Hannah Montana thing?" he asked, setting up the haymaker.

"Who is that, again?"

Although the man looked momentarily self-conscious amid the laughter, he had not committed a social faux pas of any magnitude.

It was just that asking parents of school-age children -- particularly those with girls between the ages of six and 13 -- about Miley / Hannah was like meeting a group of football fans and saying "Who is that Brett Favre guy?"

In most homes with pre-teen kids, Cyrus gets more TV face time than the Packers quarterback, whose own 8-year-old daughter, Breleigh, is a fan of Hannah Montana and attended a recent "Best of Both Worlds" concert in St. Paul.

As a service to those who are allowed to surf past the Disney Channel, here is a glimpse into Miley's world, which can be examined in-depth at her Web site, mileyworld.com.

Here are some basics:

Miley Cyrus is a 15-year-old entertainer whose given name is Destiny Hope Cyrus. (Miley is a nickname, apparently a shortened version of "Smiley Miley.")

Her father is Billy Ray Cyrus, a country singer-songwriter best known for his 1992 hit "Achy Breaky Heart." (And for his "achy breaky big mistakey" mullet! -ed.)

Since spring 2006, Miley and Billy Ray have starred as a father-daughter duo in the Disney Channel series "Hannah Montana."

Miley plays Miley Stewart, a "normal" teen who leads a double life. During the week, Miley is a high school student with quirky friends, homework and an annoying brother, Jackson. On the weekends, she puts on a blonde wig and transforms herself into a teen pop star known as Hannah Montana.

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