Why did Yankee Doodle go to town?

Question

What town was it? Why did he ride a pony and not a horse? Why did he stick a feather in his cap? Had he watched Peter Pan or Robin Hood and thought it was cool to have a feather in your cap? Why did Peter Pan and Robin Hood also have feathers in their caps?

Answer 1

So many questions, Fair Rie! Six at a blow!

The song, apparently, is an English parody of a Dutch Harvest song which went 'Yanker dudel doodle down ...'. I am not sure what it means but 'bagpipe' is 'dudelsack' in German and if you recall those harvest pictures by the Brueghels, there is usually a paunchy little man playing the dudelsack somewhere in them.

But I digress.

The song arrived in England around the time when Oliver Cromwell was around and by a process of esquimbulating the words were transmogrified into "Yankee Doodle came to town ..". Yankee, it is related, is a mispronunciation of the Dutch word Engels, meaning Englishman and a doodle is, of course, a silly person, hence 'Stupid Englishman'. He rides upon a pony because country bumpkins ride on ponies, not horses. He sticks a feather in his hat to look (as he thinks) smart and up to the fashion of the day. So why does he call it macaroni? Surely not because it rhymes with 'pony'? No indeedy! In them thar days there was a Gentlemans Club for the idle rich where the young dandies vied to dress in as outrageous and colourful manner as possible. This club was named after an exotic food, recently imported from Italy, called Macaroni. Hence for the dandy bumpkin, Yankee Doodle, to stick a feather in his hat was, he thought, outrageous and clever and so he called it macaroni.

At the time of the Revolution (the American one, no less) the British troops remembered this song and used it to pour scorn and ridicule on the colonials, who they considered to be mere bumpkins (who grew pumpkins and were, perhaps, assisted in this task by the Fairy Dimmock - recently reincarnated as a proper charlie ... but I digress). Thus far we have the story of Mr Yankee Doodle and his holey noodles. (See ref. 1)

You wish to know also, why Peter Pan and Robin Hood also had feathers in their caps? Then I shall attempt an elucidation.

At reference 2, please observe the genuine article in a rather off shade of Lincoln Green with Scarlet trimmings (as modeled by a rather nervous man from the Accounting Department of SillyJokes). Now, this same article is sold, slightly beaten about, as the Tyrolean Hat (check the link at the side). Same pukey green, same scarlet trimming, a size smaller and ... oops ... same Mervin from Accounts. Hah! How do we change a Tyrolean hat into a Robin Hood hat? Simple! By the application of a little piggery-pokery and a 10" Turkey Feather ... bootiful!

Peter Pan also has a very similar hat to Robin Hood. In fact the same article is sold by many outlets as a Peter Pan/Elf/Robin Hood hat. (Reference 3 shows just one style - this time closer to Lincoln Green). My surmise is that the feather is added so that the passing customer doesn't exclaim "Oh, look at that lovely green bicycle saddle cover! Just the thing for Graham!"

I hope that I have flumbagated your question correctly, Fairy Snodquillop, and have delivered thee with a fair and rumbuginous answer.

Answer 2

Yankee Doodle went to the Boston because he's cool like that. He rode a pony because the T (aka- the subway) broke down and all the horses were being used as taxis. He stuck a feather in is cap becaue he's a player and he was tryin to get some girls in the Boston commons. Peter Pan and Robin Hood were players too I guess...

Answer 3

Well, the town of the Yankees' of course -- New York! He rode a pony, well, he doesn't like to admit this, but he was rather short. The feather thing...well, that darned Doodle was a bragger! He shot his first goose while huntin' and wanted to show off his superior plucking skills. So, no, Robin and Peter weren't his inspiration- well, I take that back. Peter Pan was the name of his inspirational peanut butter that he ate whenever he needed some magic. But they had feathers in their caps because they were strange. They didn't know how to brag.

Answer 4

it is actually based on the invasion of America, when the red coats came over and a messenger (Paul Revere) went riding through the town to warn the colonies.

Peter Pan had a feather because it was used to tickle the other kids.

Robin hood had a feather to flecth his arrows.

Answer 5

He lived in Noodle-pennysylvia
He rode a horse with very short legs
He thought the feather in the hat would make an excellent fashion statement
Peter pan and robin hood stole his fashion creation.

Answer 6

To fetch a pail of water-- oh, no wait, that was those other guys.... well, 'macaroni' was a term for the Italian style of dress, which was beginning to be affected by many Europeans-- in other words, it was the 'in' fashion in its day.

'doodle' is supposed to be a term for an uneducated or uncultured fellow, so to call someone a Yankee doodle is to say that they are from a New England hick town (like the proverbial Podunk, in Massachusetts) and so far behind the fashion curve that he would stick a feather (a long frilly plume) in the band of his hat and claim that he was in the macaroni mode.

He was probably going to town to show off his new outfit.

Answer 7

Ya see, Yankee was a young doodle then, and hadn't learned to sit a horse, so they made him go to town on the pony. The rest is history....

Answer 8

Ask the British, it was orginally a poem to INSULT the colonists. A Yankee-Doodle is actually an insulting term. Typical of us Americans though we just changed it into a compliment instead of caring.

Answer 9

He went to town to ride a pony

Answer 10

he'd ran out of macaroni and his brother had nicked his bike so he took the family pet...a goat(similar to a pony!!) The feather was a quill to write his shopping list before he forgot what he wanted