Why is yankee doodle feather called macaroni

The feet were clad in red-heeled slipper-like leather shoes with decorative buckles of diamond, paste or polished steel. Additionally, as much ornamentation as possible was added with large floral nosegays, hanging watches, swords and tasseled walking sticks. Credit: Library of Congress. An elite figure marked by the cultivations of European travel, wealth and taste. So what did the British troops, who first sang the song about their colonial cousins, mean when they said that Mr.

Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni? The song was not meant to be a compliment but rather a joke. He lacked class, could never mingle in high society, and was too simple to even realize it. It was obviously a broad generalization of Americans because in the colonies there was a broad range of fashion. The average colonist would probably not have had a pastel silk waistcoat or stripped knee socks, however.

For them, linen, wool, cotton and linsey-woolsey were all common clothing fabrics in more natural or sedate colors. An average person may only have had 2 or 3 outfits so durability was preferable to style. What seems like just a silly sounding verse in a marching tune actually illustrates how the British viewed and had always viewed the colonies. BY Arika Okrent. Yankee Doodle went to town Mm-hm, yeah. Riding on a pony Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni Big Questions.

Subscribe to our Newsletter! Prior to fighting for their independence against the British, the colonists were, of course, subjects of the English. Therefore, when the French and Brits went to war over territories in the New World in , the colonists were recruited to join in on the English side. Richard Shuckburg who is known to have existed saw the colonist recruits amble up to join the regular soldiers.

Compared to the well-assembled and well-manicured English army, the colonists were a mess. Shuckburg or not, went like this:. Brother Ephraim sold his cow And bought him a commission And then he went to Canada To fight for the nation;. Upon completing the lyrics, purportedly Dr. At this point, the song was constantly being remixed with slightly different lyrics, tunes and meanings, as was common for pretty much all popular songs at the time.

What united many of the earliest versions of this song was the not-so-subtle mocking of colonists as nothing more than moronic, unsophisticated, country yokels. For instance, after George Washington was made commander of the rebel armies, some unknown individual wrote the following lyrics,.

A slightly more familiar version to those of us today is also one of the earlier known versions, generally credited to Harvard sophomore and American Minuteman Edward Bangs:. Father and I went down to camp, Along with Captain Gooding, And there we saw the men and boys As thick as hasty pudding.