wtfhistory reblogged
weenage-tasteland
justintheamazingallan:
fuckingshitupsince1998:
for real..
Macaroni wigs at the time were extremely fashionable and this led to Macaroni being a contemporary slang for foppishness/fashionable. Doodle meant idiot and Yankee was a term for Colonials. Sooooo basically the ryhme is saying “Americans are such uncivilized dickheads that they could stick a feather in their cap and think themselves fancy.”
… And why was I not taught this in school alongside the years of repetitive American history?
My orchestra is playing this in a suite of patriotic music…?
allonsymytardis
The earliest known version of the lyrics comes from 1755 or 1758, as the date of origin is disputed:
“Brother Ephraim sold his Cow
And bought him a Commission;
And then he went to Canada
To fight for the Nation;
But when Ephraim he came home
He proved an arrant Coward,
He wouldn’t fight the Frenchmen there
For fear of being devour’d.”