Posted by Ephraim Bee on December 14, 2005 at 22:20:25:
My take on Yankee Doodle, based on study of the authority thereof, the
author being a British surgeon occupying Boston: "Yankee" was actually
"yank ye."
Yank ye doodle went to London
Riding on a pony.
Stuck a feather in his hat
And called it Macaroni.*
Chorus
Yank ye doodle,
Keep it up.
Yank ye doodle,
Dandy.
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be "handy." (use yer hand as yer girlfriend)
*It only gets worse, but you get the picture. The British doctor was poking
fun at the "Yanqui" colonials (the name evidently was Mohawk meaning
something or other) by phrasing it as "yank ye", with obvious wanker
connotations. The word "pony" is to this day British slang for "male
prostitute." The "Macaroni" were a real British society of effeminate men
who wore powdered wigs and pancake makeup and spent a lot of time in Italy.
So, the British troops marched along singing this song as a putdown of the
colonials.
Turnabout being fair play, the Americans took up the anthem and called
themselves "Yankees."
I was almost killed on IRJR's forum for suggesting that the founding fathers
were wankers, which wasn't what I was trying to say, but what the hey.