Why did Yankee Doodle call the feather in his hat Macaroni?

Question

Is it a reference to italian imigrants?

Answer 1

Yankee Doodle
Why did yankee doodle stick a feather in his hat and call it macaroni? Back in Pre-Revolutionary America when the song "Yankee Doodle" was first popular, the singer was not referring to the pasta "macaroni" in the line that reads "stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni". "Macaroni" was a fancy ("dandy") style of Italian dress widely imitated in England at the time. So by just sticking a feather in his cap and calling himself a "Macaroni" (a "dandy"), Yankee Doodle was proudly proclaiming himself to be a country bumpkin, because that was how the English regarded most colonials at that time.

Answer 2

macaroni- pony I stand corrected- from wiki A "macaroni", in mid-18th-century England, was a dandyish young man with affected Continental mannerisms; the joke being that the Yankees believed that a feather in the hat was sufficient to make them the height of fashion. Whether or not these were alternative lyrics sung in the British army, they were enthusiastically taken up by the Yanks themselves.

Answer 3

As in most of those war period songs, the words were meant to taunt the British. The particular reference to the feather being called macaroni is one of these jabs. The British officers did not recognize the authority of the insignia the American Revolutionary officers wore. The Yankee Doodles (poorly dressed locals) sang about just how stupid they thought those British officers were. Just stick a feather in your hat and say you are in charge.

Answer 4

I believe it comes from before the revolutionary war, when the British nobleman would insult Americans, by saying that they would think they were well off by sticking a feather is their cap.

It was also Thomas Jefferson who first could never find just the right pasta for his needs, and crafted a new pasta cutter, that produced what we now know as elbow macaroni. He then added vermont cheddar, and thus was born the American classic mac & cheese.

Answer 5

The "Macaroni" mentioned in the song was a referance to a popular club in England known to cater to "other" males. Specifically gay men, ie "Daddies."
It was an underground club.

"Yankee Doodle" refered to the hauty attitudes of those in the "New World."


The song itself was actually a SLAM against Americans, it was written by an Englishman. It was an insult in the way so many American teens call anything that they don't like, or think is "dumb"..."Gay."


The problem is that Americans were too stupid to know this, thought it was a cute little diddy and started singing it themselves!

NOW you know why Europe thinks Americans are all stupid!

Answer 6

A "Macaroni" refered to the fancy and overly dressed style of Italian clothing the British imitated, as well as the dandies (someone who wear clothes to make themselves lok above his or her station) who adopted this tyle of dress. "Yankee" was the mispronunciation the Dutch by the English and "doodle" referred "idiot".

Answer 7

Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about the song and all it's variations -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_doodle

Here is a link to the definition of Macaroni as used in the song - it refers to fashion (being a dandy, fashionable)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_%28fashion%29

Good Luck!

Jen

Answer 8

I can't believe that anyone really care what the hell it really means, or about the history of the damn song. "It was meant to be funny and cute!" Or it could just be, that the person who wrote the song, ate way too much Macaroni that day, and thought that adding it to a song would help him or her move on! "Goodness, who the hell knows, who the hell cares... Its just a damn song!"

Answer 9

the feather was from a rare macaroni bird found only in kraft-land

Answer 10

He was so dandy, wasn't he? I wish I had thought of that. Then maybe hundreds of years later people would be wondering what I was thinking. It'd be great!