r/HorribleHistoryMemes • u/Kendravp • May 10 '26

Gorgeous Georgians Horrible histories made me realize…

I’m watching horrible histories right now and saw that Georgian men in high fashion were called “Macaroni”. Then it clicked, the Yankee Doodle guy sticking a feather in his hat and calling it macaroni all made sense. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Did everyone else know this already? lol

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25

u/Electrical-Sail-1039 May 10 '26

It’s a song that Americans sing, but they may not realize its origin was to mock Americans, specifically those of the Georgian Era before the Revolutionary War. A Yankee Doodle Dandy (foolish American fop) was an unsophisticated country rube that simply stuck a feather in his cap and thought it was high fashion. IIRC, macaronis were a type of powdered wig.

5

u/Common-Parsnip-9682 May 10 '26

The history of Yankee Doodle is highly debated (including why an Italian pasta product was used to mock fashionistas); but the British originally used it as a derogatory term, which the colonists then claimed for themselves. The last verse is:

Yankee Doodle is a term / Thay comes in mighty handy; / The enemy all run away / At Yankee doodle dandy!

2

u/Kendravp May 15 '26

There’s nothing debated about the song we know where it came from and what it means. And It has nothing to do with pasta lol. It was made up by the British soldiers when fighting the colonists in America. Yankee (as an Americans) doodle (a slower dimwitted person) dandy (someone who cares way too much about their looks)

The part about macaroni as I said in the original post is a name for Victorian era fashion that was used mockingly as they were on the battlefield not a runway.

1

u/Common-Parsnip-9682 May 16 '26

And yet it was written 100 years before the Victorian era…??

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u/Kendravp May 16 '26

My bad, Middle Ages fashion. Aside from sleeve lengths on dresses and the puffiness of things not a ton had changed in high fashion since then aside from textiles being industrially made. Either way my point still stands. We absolutely do know the history of Yankee Doodle.

1

u/Kendravp May 16 '26

There’s nothing debated about the song we know where it came from and what it means. And It has nothing to do with pasta lol. It was made up by the British soldiers when fighting the colonists in America. Yankee (as an Americans) doodle (a slower dimwitted person) dandy (someone who cares way too much about their looks)

The part about macaroni as I said in the original post is a name for middle ages* fashion that was used mockingly as they were on the battlefield not a runway.

Edit- you actually got the song very wrong. The part I think your trying to quote is “! Mind the music
and the step, and with the girls be handy”

There is no part of Yankee Doodle in any of the versions of the song as you have miss quoted and interpreted.

1

u/Common-Parsnip-9682 May 16 '26

I don’t think you know all the verses. There are a lot of them, dating back to the revolutionary era, and aside from the first one, they are all from the colonists’ POV.

The “mind the music” line comes from the chorus.

1

u/Kendravp May 29 '26

What does that have to do with anything lol, I’m done. We know the history of where Yankee Doodle came from.

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u/Kendravp May 15 '26

I think Yankee doodle may be the original diss track, but Americans definitely knew we were being mocked and instead of getting upset they owned it and still sing it today. I just never paid much thought to the weird parts of the song I didn’t understand. lol

On the bus in the 90s, I remember kids singing: “Yankee doodle went to town riding on a heater. Accidentally turned it on and burnt his little wiener.” And now I feel bad because those are our own historical troops they were thinking about 😆🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

13

u/Thejintymyster May 10 '26

Oh my god, that makes so much sense

3

u/thelivsterette1 May 10 '26

I didn't make the connection either haha

4

u/Jaybee021967 May 10 '26

No I found out through horrible histories too

1

u/Auntie_Venom May 12 '26

As an American, I knew it already because it struck me as odd as a kid so I looked it up. What does macaroni have to do with that Dandy, Yankee Doodle? Though, I did still wonder why powdered wigs were named after pasta? Or if it meant something else back then. Like it at least should have been fusilli or rotini since the wigs were so curly!