Julie is a business information consultant in the health care industry. She has a B.S. degree in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis.

Yankee Doodle came to town
Riding on a pony
Stuck a feather in his hat
And called it Macaroni

When I first sang this verse from ‘Yankee Doodle’ as a schoolgirl, I thought the hero had decided to name his horse ‘Macaroni’. A precocious child, I knew it was nonsensical for Yankee Doodle to call his hat ‘Macaroni’, as many of my classmates professed he had done. But as I grew older, I was determined the song was simply a frivolous nursery rhyme devoid of any real meaning, and designed to appeal to a child's sense of humor (macaroni being quite a fun, tasty, yet comical food to the grade school set). After a little research, however, I've uncovered the truth behind the Yankee Doodle mystery. Our Revolutionary War hero was, in fact, an aspiring dandy—a member of the elite and haute couture Macaroni Club of the 1770s.

The Macaroni Club consisted of young, wealthy British gentlemen who traveled to France and Italy and adopted the ostentatious and flamboyant fashions popular in those countries during the eighteenth century. The Macaronis, not members of a true club but rather a new generation of continental society, were often ridiculed by the British establishment. The Macaroni moniker was a tongue-in-cheek reference to their import of foreign cuisine as well as fashion. Macaronis wore form-fitting trousers and short waistcoats with ruffles and braiding, and sported superfluities such as tasseled walking sticks, spy glasses, and nosegays. They wore elaborate toupees and wigs topped by tiny tricorn hats that were definitely form over function. These trends may have been en vogue at the Court of Versailles, but they didn't go over well back home with the more staid Brits, who perceived the Macaronis’ style as extreme, effeminate, and silly.

What's worse than a pretentious British fop? How about a Yankee with aspirations to the Macaroni Club? The famous pasta line of Yankee Doodle pokes fun at unsophisticated New Englanders and their attempts to be stylish. “American fashions followed the English, though at some distance, as is usual in the provinces,” states Alison Lurie in her book The Language of Clothes. The entire Yankee Doodle lyric, one of America's most beloved patriotic songs, is a joke at the expense of the Colonists. If you're not convinced about the Macaroni line, here's a lesser known but equally condescending verse from the song:

First we'll take a Pinch of Snuff
And then a drink of Water
And then we'll say, How do you do,
And that's a Yanky's Supper.
(Sonneck, 131.)

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