Talk:Yankee Doodle

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I believe there are other verses to this song, one particularly concerns connections to Cape Cod. talking about going to Aunt Hettie's house and the house of Grandma Chase. Aunt Hettie may have been Mehitable Crosby Nickerson of Orleans and Grandma Chase may have been the mother of Ebenezer Chase of Harwich or Dennis, who was one of the two fifers from Cape Cod who served in the Revolutionary War. Does anybody know the words to this verse? I believe it was used during the bicentennial by members of the Cape Cod Militia. Thanks, Gail Nickerson

Here are lyrics that include the word "macaroni" in the song "Yankee Doodle"

 Yankee Doodle came to town,
 A-ridin' on a pony;
 He stuck a feather in his hat
 And called it macaroni.

 Yankee Doodle keep it up,
 Yankee Doodle Dandy;
 Mind the music and the steps
 And with the girls be handy.

 Father and I went down to camp,
 Along with Cap'n Goodwin;
 The men and boys all stood around
 As thick as hasty puddin'.

 Yankee Doodle keep it up,
 Yankee Doodle Dandy;
 Mind the music and the steps
 And with the girls be handy.

Interestingly, the Wikipedia Yankee Doodle article linked to from the Wikipedia Macaroni article does not mention this version of these lyrics. LarryW 02:54, 3 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Until today.... -- Bevo 03:58, 26 Aug 2003 (UTC)
I can't find a reference, but I recollect reading that "macaroni" was soldier's slang for the gold braid on officer's uniforms of the period. Makes more sense in this context - Yankee Doodle doesn't have a real uniform with gold braid, just a feather in his cap. Makes more sense gramatically too if macaroni is a specific object rather than a fashion. Toiyabe 23:15, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Content copied from Straight Dope?

It looks like much of this article was copied from The Straight Dope, including the typo of "larde" for "large", which I have just corrected. Is there a risk of copyright violation here? http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/myankeedoodle.html

Jeffr 14:01, May 27, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] About Macaroni

According to "Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day" [(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated] : (paraphrased) The 2nd, obsolete meaning of macaroni was " a) a member of a class of traveled young Englishmen of the late 18th and early 19th centuries who affected foreign ways; b) an affected young man : fop". Quote:

    "As you may have suspected, the "macaroni" in the song "Yankee Doodle"
    is not the familiar food. The feather in Yankee Doodle's cap
    apparently makes him a macaroni in the now rare "fop" or "dandy"
    sense. The sense appears to have originated with a club established in
    London by a group of young, well-traveled Englishmen in the 1760s. The
    founders prided themselves on their appearance, sense of style, and
    manners, and they chose the name Macaroni Club to indicate their
    worldliness. Because macaroni was, at the time, a new and rather
    exotic food in England, the name was meant to demonstrate how stylish
    the club's members were. The members were themselves called
    "macaronis," and eventually "macaroni" became synonymous with "dandy"
    and "fop."

I'd say the statement in the article that reads "The joke being that the Yankees are stupid enough to believe that a feather in the hat is sufficiently spiffy to gain entry to Macaroni." is just another example of guesses and theories presented as fact on Wikipedia... (Note in the quote above how professional authors _qualify_ their statements.)

p.s. Any other references besides the Library of Congress webpage on whether it's "Cap'n Goodwin" or "Captin Good'in" ? - Libertas 04:47, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

  • Agreed - The section about the club should be removed unless it can be well verified. I'll make the change so this reads closer to what's in the description of macaroni (fashion).

[edit] More regarding the history

[1] Шизомби 04:38, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Please edit to include more complete versions of Yankee doodle.

I came across this article while doing some research on Yankee Doodle for my American Wars class. It does not appear to be as complete as it could be because it is lacking several versions. I will leave the editing to more experienced folks because I am afraid of committing some infraction of rules regarding editing. Here are the sources for more complete versions of Yankee Doodle and also brief explanations:

1. Complete version of the "Early Version" The date for the earliest version should be 1758.
2. The true 1775 lyrics of Yankee Doodle
3. Lyrics to the 1775 Loyalist version of Yankee Doodle with comments on specific verses
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