"toke the wild hair"

[Gerald Cohen]

    The person who asked me about "toke the wild hair" (Linda) has
written to her distant relative (Theresa) asking about Theresa's use
of "toke the wild hair."
Below my signoff are Linda's latest e-mail to me and Theresa's response to her.

     Theresa sees "toke the wild hair" as a Cajun French expression.
But does such an expression actually exist in Cajun French? Perhaps
better: "Toke" means "inhale a joint or pipe of cannabis," and
according to Tony Thorne's _Dictionary of Contemporary Slang_, "this
has been a standard term in the marihuana and hashish smokers'
vocabulary since the late 1960s."

     "Wild hair" would then be the fibers of cannabis. So "toke the
wild hair" as used by Theresa ("you never thought about what you were
going to do, you just do it without thought of anything") possibly
referred originally to the spontaneous dropping of one's everyday
tasks to enjoy a smoke of marihuana/etc.

Gerald Cohen



(letter from Linda to me):

>
>Here's Theresa's reply to my questioning the use of "toke the wild hair."
>
>It is as I suspected - it means to just drop what one is doing and take off
>spontaneously to do something unrelated. ...
>
>
>Linda
>



(letter from Theresa to Linda, referred to just above):

>
>Linda,
>
>YOU are so funny!!!!!!  The phase "toke the wild hair" is a French saying.
>I have lived by hearing people say I toke the wild hair and did this or
>that????
>When you use this terminalogy it means that you never thought about what you
>were going to do you just do it, without thought of anything?  And really
>not to worry about the outcome of what you were going to do.   The
>French people use this especially in the shrimping, seafood
>industry.  As you can see I really dont use it often.  It is fun to
>use it sometimes.  The cajun people have a vocabulary of their own.
>It is a mixture of Prussian French and Cajun Louisiana French plus
>mixed with English, now you have a combination of some saying. In my
>case mix some Spanish in there and now you really have a
>combination. ...

>  Love Theresa