Once upon a time, a dairy farmer noticed mama cows licked their young'n, leaving a swirling pattern in the calves hair. I imagine his teenager did not appreciate being told the errant lock of hair on his head was a cowlick.
It is important to keep garden cowlicks - those errant branches at cross-purposes with the rest of woody plants - under control. For one thing, many plants bloom and berry better when the branches are either horizontal or weeping. Also, the well-kept silhouette is the difference between chaos and charisma.
If you can't quite work up the courage to trim the cowlicks off your tree or bush, you need to think of the plant as needing to be groomed - like a man's beard. The untrimmed bush is like Osama bin Laden's beard. The trimmed bush is more like the best celebrity beards listed on Men's Health.
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If the branch isn't too long but just sticking out, go to the tackle box and pick out a weight and tie it on. Ladies, this is really better done when your husband isn't looking. If the branch is out of control, be brave and lop it off. One of my favorite tools for thorny situations (waist high or taller) is Fiskar's Pruning Stik Tree Pruner. It is just the right length to reach up and in a mature bougainvillea. If you've ever been tackled by their thorns, you know this tool is a literal face-saver.