We all know the funky line in Yankee Doodle “He sticks a feather in his hat and calls it maccaroni.” I heard so many different explanations for this weird phrase that I don’t know what is true or even believable. Some say he calls the pony maccaroni, some say in 18th century English “maccaroni” was the equivalent of “cool”. Anybody got the straight dope?
Welcome to the board Waldenfont! You and I have something in common: I asked the very same question the first time I posted here.
Unfortunately, I can’t make the search engine work or else I’d give you a link to that thread.
Also, unfortunately the replies I got were pretty much joke answers (you guys are a regular riot).
Anybody got the Straight Dope? C’mon guys, be nice to the newbie.
All those who believe in telekinesis raise my hand.
From Yankee Doodle
"Yankee Doodle came to town
Upon a Kentish Pony.
He stuck a feather in his hat
And called it Macaroni.
This verse and others were written during English Civil War of mid-1600’s about Prince Rupert of the Palatinate, a dashing military leader (and one of the founders of Hudson Bay Company, I think.).
If you’re interested see The Real Personages of Mother Goose, written by Katherine Elwis Thomas in 1930. This book is a scholarly discourse on the true meaning of nursery rhymes. The Yankee Doodle article begins page 259."
Here’s something to chew on while I look further. I seem to remember this being covered but don’t dare use the search function with the board traveling this slow.
Tomndeb beat me to it but I also want to give you ALL the references from Brewer’s…
While sifting through Brewer’s Phrase and Fable I found several several cites.
“Macaroni A coxcomb (Italian, un macceherone). The word is derived from the Macaroni Club, instituted by a set of flashy men who had travelled in Italy, and introduced Italian maccheroni at Almack’s subscription table. The Macaronies were the most exquisite fops that ever disgraced the name of man; vicious, insolent, fond of gambling, drinking, and duelling, they were (about 1773) the curse of Vauxhall Gardens.”
Also from Brewer’s…
“Yankee Doodle is Nankee Doodle (Oliver Cromwell), who went to Oxford “with a single feather fastened in a macaroni knot,” whence the rhyme-
“Nankee Doodle came to town upon his little pony,
Stuck a feather in his hat, and called it macaroni.”
The brigade under Lord Percy marched out of Boston playing this air “by way of contempt,” but were told they should dance to it soon in another spirit.”
Also…
"Jack Pudding A buffoon who performs pudding tricks, such as swallowing a certain number of yards of black-pudding. S. Bishop observes that each country names its stage buffoon from its favourite viands: The Dutchman calls him Pickel-herringë; the Germans, Hans Wurst (John Sausage); the Frenchman, Jean Potage; the Italian, Macaroni; and the English, Jack Pudding. "
Thus depending on who you talk to macaroni is a type of knot, a buffoon, or a dandy. Take your pick, I vote for the knot usage myself as the original. Forgive any repitition of Tomndeb’s material it’s cut and paste from Wordpad.
After the board came back, I went to the site funneefarmer posted to see if there was more info on the part he quoted. (There really wasn’t.) I have two issues with the information Larry Burns suplied on that site.
I’m certainly open to correction, but I have never seen any reference to “macaroni” prior to the mid-eighteenth century, so I have a bit of trouble seeing it flung at Prince Rupert 100 years earlier. Similarly, the song aimed at Prince Rupert uses the word “yankee.” I am marginally less troubled by that word, because its origins are pretty obscure, but it is still generally held to be a North American coinage, so why were the English of their civil war using it. Since “yankee” is most frequently associated with some corruption of a Dutch epithet, I suppose it is remotely possible that it was aimed at Rupert (the Palatinate is south of the Netherlands, but not very close) but I still find it unlikely.)
Tom~
Simulpost!
Now I have to go back and check my sources on macaroni.
Tom~
“When or where the tune first came into use, nobody knows. There is much amazing obscurity surrounding the origin of the tune. It has been told that the air “Nancy Dawson,” by the process of evolution became known as “Yankee Doodle.” It antedates the American Revolution by at least one hundred and twenty-five years. It was said that in the reign of Charles the First, of England, that the Puritans, who wore their hair short were nicknamed “roundheads”, The term, Yankee or Nankey, was applied in contempt of the Puritans by the followers of Charles the First. The word Yankee is defined in several ways. The Century Dictionary of Names, while considering the origin uncertain, says that according to a common statement, Yankees is a variation of “Yenkees” or “Yengees” or “Yaunghees,” a name said to have been given by Massachusetts Indians to the English colonists, being, it is supposed, an Indian corruption of the word English. The word “Doodle” is defined in the old English dictionaries to be trifling, or simple fellow, the term was applied to Cromwell, so it is claimed, in that sense; and a macaroni was a knot on which the feather was fastened.”
‘Macaroni’ in that song is a HAT.
The thread started by Delta-9 can be found here: Yankee Doodle. As you can see, we were being a bit silly, though the last poster obviously missed the tongue CKDext had firmly planted in cheek…
And for the Cecil explanation on the origin of ‘Yankee’, see: What is the origin of the word “Yankee”?
I’d always heard that the origin of “yankee” was from the Dutch “Jan Kaas” (“John Cheese”), as stated in Cecil’s column.
I think “He stuck a feather in his cap / And called it maccaroni” means that Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and said, “Now isn’t that dashing!” It makes more sense in context than saying “Now my hat is a knot!” or “Now I’m a buffoon!”
“I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry
Are you a turtle?
According to the OED, macaroni was nothing but a food item until the 1760’s when it became associated with the foppish wastrels noted above.
In context, the “macaroni knot” that was cited appears to have been nothing more than a fancy knot affected by the macaronis. There is no reference at all in the **OED[/d] to macaroni, itself, as indicating a type of knot.
The references to Cromwell (the bluidy bast’rd) bothered me, but reviewing the actual quotations in context, it appears that the doggerel about Cromwell was not contemporary to him, but was found in a late eighteenth century rhyme used by British soldiers. This is not what was asserted by Larry Burns in the link funneefarmer provided. However, I’m going to go with the OED on this one. I have a hard time believing the OED would miss such an obvious citation.
Since the origin of yankee is so clouded in mystery, I’m not going to insist that it is a later word. Someone may, indeed, have called Cromwell a “nankee” (among the many other epithets he earned).
Tom~
Gary Jennings in his book “Spangle” (not his best) talks about this in the first chapter and gives the song a more sexual-innuendo twist (doodling). Now, granted, he is just a historical fiction writer, but in all of his other books he sticks to the facts. He really researches the topics he writes about quite thouroughly, so I am going to make a guess that he has come up with some proof to back up that statement. Where that proof lies…I dunno. I know - this wouldn’t stand up in court.
I have so many thoughts going through my head that sometimes it’s hard to finish a
A feather in a cap makes it a kind of hat but I can’t find the dictionary that gives ‘macoroni’ as a type of hat. Woldn’t really matter as no one would agree 
“‘How do you know I’m mad’ said Alice.
'You must be, ’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’”