# In the song "Hotel California," what does "colitas" mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/501139>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [June 27, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/501139 "2009-06-27T03:03:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![moosedrink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9a28c/32.png) [@moosedrink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moosedrink)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/501139/1 "2009-06-27T03:03:13Z")

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Dear Cecil,

I liked the irony of confusing hemp and pot on a forum entitled “The Straight Dope,” but you clearly have never tried putting cool whip in your hair.

-moosedrink

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**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/501139/2 "2009-06-27T04:05:49Z")

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Oops, for some reason I thought this was GQ, and I knew the question sounded familiar…

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean/501139/3 "2009-06-27T04:18:11Z")

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**moosedrink**. Welcome to the Board.

It’s customary and polite to link to the column so others can follow along. You can cut and past the URL like this

> **[In the song “Hotel California,” what does “colitas” mean?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342208/in-the-song-hotel-california-what-does-colitas-mean)**

or pretty it up like this:  
[In the song “Hotel California,” what does “colitas” mean?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_001.html)

You might like to read other threads which have been posted to the Board since 2000 about this column.

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=48569&highlight=colitas](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=48569&highlight=colitas)

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=57033&highlight=colitas](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=57033&highlight=colitas)

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=123337&highlight=colitas](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=123337&highlight=colitas)

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=478891&highlight=colitas](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=478891&highlight=colitas)

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=511349&highlight=colitas](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=511349&highlight=colitas)