The state of Louisiana once tried to certify the Cajun haircut

In September 2006 the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry asked the federal government for permission to certify the word CAJUN. Just the word. All capital letters, standing alone, like it was waiting for a ride.

The application covered rice and seafood. Fine. It covered furniture and paintings. Ambitious, but fine. Then it reached services, and the list included legal work, haircutting and plumbing.

I have thought a great deal about the Cajun haircut. The application tells us what it is. Its only standard was that a good or service came from Louisiana, or was substantially transformed there.

"Substantially transformed" is doing a lot of work in a barbershop.

So a Cajun haircut is a haircut performed in Louisiana. A Cajun plumber is a plumber standing in Louisiana. (I would like to meet the Cajun lawyer, but I would like him to be very good.)

Washington declines

The examining attorney at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused the application. The state appealed. On September 29, 2008, the application was abandoned. It survives as Serial No. 77008344, which you can look up on the trademark office's website, and which I recommend as an evening.

The sequel

The state came back in 2018 with a logo instead. Certified Cajun was registered that September as a design mark for goods: food, meats, vegetables, leather goods, beverages, wines and spirits. No plumbing. Somebody learned something.

The test stayed the same. Made in Louisiana.