Factoid of the day

The line in the song Yankee Doodle goes:

Stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni

It was sung to ridicule the rag tag rebels in the colonies.

Have you ever wondered where that came from?

TYWKIWDBI has the answer: it means an overdressed fop.

The Macaroni wig was an extreme fashion in the 1770s and became contemporary slang for foppishness. The Macaronis were young English men who adopted feminine mannerisms and highly extravagant attire, and were deemed effeminate. They were members of the Macaroni Club in London at the height of the fashion for dandyism, so called because they wore striped silks upon their return from the Grand Tour - and a feather in their hats.

and check out the Wikipedia page on macaroni