From One "Cowlick" to Another

       Standing behind Connie as she registered to get an x-ray at Kaiser Permanente, I kissed the back of her neck.  I said, "You have a cowlick."  "I know, nothing'll make it stay down."  "What does 'cowlick' come from?"  She didn't know.  Nor I.

       I have it on good authority (means it sounds good to me) that "it's British in origin.   It almost certainly comes from a comparison with the projecting ridge of hairs on a cow's hide, licked into shape by the animal.  The word is first recorded in 1598."   (QPB Word and Phrase Origins, Fourth Edition 2008, by Robert Hendrickson)

       In any case, I like the sound of the word, and that we share some wispy, pesky out-of-place hair with our fellow bovine breed.