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The Macaroni in ‘Yankee Doodle’
- kemayo 6y agoI remember seeing the analogy made that "stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni" could be translated into a modern context as "wrote a G on his belt and called it Gucci".
- khazhoux 6y agoOh, interesting! I'd seen the "macaroni" articles before, but until your comment I had not realized the song is making fun of the character's low-effort mimicry.
- SamBam 6y agoIt was not just the unsophisticated mimicry part, but the fact that he was trying to mimic something that was already being widely ridiculed. I'm not sure what the modern analogy would be, because I'm not sure what fashion is widely ridiculed. "Drew a fake tattoo with a ballpoint pen and called himself 90's emo goth kid."
- jwarden 6y agoHipsters. Drew a moustache on his lip and called himself hip.
- hackeraccount 6y agoThis is spot on.
- mywittyname 6y agoSome dumb American came around driving an abomination. Clipped a tie onto his shirt and called it sophistication.
- dundercoder 6y agoI like it.
- mbg721 6y agoBrooklyn hipster came to town In an '83 Mercedes, Slapped a moustache on his lip And belted out "Mmmm'ladies."
- barbecue_sauce 6y agoThis seems to conflate hipsters and neckbeards.
- dylan604 6y agoBrooklyn->Mmmm'ladies makes me think Beasties
- barbecue_sauce 6y agoWas not expecting that to be controversial.
- khazhoux 6y agoIn the latest taxonomy revision (spec 2020.3 §4-12) you'll find that hipsters and neckbeards were re-classified to make the genus relationship clearer.
- koolba 6y agoSV techie came to town Escaping covid lockdowns Bought up all the real estate And thinks it’s Churchill Downs
- klyrs 6y agoOld Bill Gates his deal went down buying all the comp'nys the internet knocked down his door he said "no that's for phonies"
- deleted 6y ago
- elliekelly 6y ago> And with the girls be handy I'd never really given much thought to what this line meant but knowing the context it's pretty gross.
- bitwize 6y agoI think "handy" may have an ordinary meaning here of "available". Ironically suggesting that women will fall for Yankee Doodle, so he'd best make himself available to their adoring attention.
- etrabroline 6y agoIt's saying the ladies like him. That's not gross at all. The pathologizing of heterosexuality seems to have roots in American Protestantism.
- moshmosh 6y agoI always just took it as "good with", as in "handy with a chainsaw". Though it's old enough that it could mean almost anything—I don't know how far back the "good with" meaning of "handy" goes. Hold on, let's see what Webster's 1913 says... 2. Skillful in using the hand; dexterous; ready; adroit. "Each is handy in his way." Dryden. OK, that one seems a bit... vulgar, at worst, and is the sense I took it in, basically. What I find very funny is sense 4: 4. (Naut.) Easily managed; obedient to the helm; -- said of a vessel. Might the line have a double-meaning? The obvious one of "knows how to please a woman", but also a near-opposite second reading of "women walk all over him"? Kinda fits with the rest of the song, which reminds me a lot of The Offspring's "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)".
- alisonkisk 6y agoNo, because he's handy "with" a lady, not "for" a lady.
- moshmosh 6y ago"With", as in "among or in the company of", "the girls". [EDIT] yeah, in context it probably just means handling your partner well while dancing as the surface reading, with a possibly-intended somewhat-vulgar "hur hur hur, if you know what I mean" subtext.
- sidlls 6y ago"In a society that emphasized individuality, it is not hard to imagine that they became folk heroes of a kind—and that many of the people who laughed at them felt a tug of longing for the freedom with which they lived." This is similar to the canard that "your bully is just jealous of your <favorable attribute here>." It's codswallop: more like to be the normal reaction to a trend taken "too far," as it were, and something like the backlash one thinks of regarding the grunge, goth, "emo", and "hipster" fads. Nobody was jealous of the supposed freedom that these people had, so much as they were amused (or appalled) at the absurd lack of introspection and awareness they exhibited by latching onto a played out trend.
- dzzo 6y agoGrunge, goth, emo, hipster “fads” still exist and have, to a greater or lesser degree, been absorbed into mainstream style and culture. Maybe there’s more to the argument than simple “codswallop.”
- marnett 6y agoThat’s an interesting categorization of the sub-cultures/scenes you listed. Are there any sub-cultures you would classify as “other” (in the sense of being other than the status quo of its era) and having introspection and awareness?
- mywittyname 6y agoFurries? I mean, their whole schtick is that they feel like a different animal trapped in a human body. That's pretty introspective and self-aware, I guess.
- klyrs 6y agoThe absurdity of the original comment is that goths and emos are characteristically introspective to a fault. Grunge and goths embodied an attempt to flee from self -- the awareness of which was a necessity for that dynamic. Finally, hipsters (not the original hipsters[1], of course) were painfully self-aware, and self-mocking. The funniest part is where it's asserted that these "fads" were "played out" by the time they gained any popularity. Which was only true of emos; they swept aside everything that made grunge and goth culture aesthetically interesting, and adopted normcore instead. Well, true of hipsters, too, but "before it was cool" was their whole thing; the played-out nature of the fad was effectively a joke on everybody who cared enough to be bothered by shat beer and silly facial hair. But, no, I don't think you're right about furries. They aren't "animals trapped in a human's body," that's a mischaracterization used by edgelords who dunk on transgender people. Furries extremely diverse in their internal and external narratives, and I won't attempt to provide an alternative characterization. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_(1940s_subculture) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_(1940s_subculture)
- steele 6y agocheugy
- dang 6y agoCould you please stop posting unsubstantive comments? You've done it a lot, unfortunately, and we're hoping for something different here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- NovemberWhiskey 6y agoThe macaroni penguin, with its colorful headfeathers, also gets its name from this same root.
- ChrisArchitect 6y ago(2016)
- ChrisArchitect 6y agoPrevious discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12356070 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12356070
- inputError 6y agooh so that's what 18th century cringe was
- chubbyish 6y agoA lot of fashion is about bravery, as mentioned in the article. People look on those who can wear what they want as free, because they know they are not, and that they are afraid of being judged. I saw a guy wearing a kimono and a belt yesterday. Was quite a sight. Typical judgmental thoughts of "look at that odd dude“ went through my head. But I realized that I couldn’t wear that and the reason would be other people judging me for it, or assigning questionable gender identity upon me. When looking back to 18th century fashion it is extreme compared to the extremes that people are chasing today. Everyone is trying to be different. Maybe wigs will come back. Imagine a world without fashion judgement. What would you wear?
- floren 6y agoI was thinking the other day about half the signers of the Declaration of Independence either had their hair curled or in a ponytail, but today a grey-haired man with a short ponytail says "old hippy" not "founding father". Anyway if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get fitted for a new pair of spats.
- mrkstu 6y agoJudgement is a critical aspect of fashion, at least as defined in practice. But leaving that aside, without judgement 1/2 would probably just wear enough to stay warm and the other 1/2 as ridiculously colorful as they could manage.
- smegger001 6y agoA world without fashion judgment what I would wear is probably close to what wear now, functional clothes that optimism for price, durability, and utility. Plain black or grey T-shirt under work a breathable (earth tone) button up shirt, (long sleeve in spring, winter, and fall short sleeve in summer). A light jacket/sweater, and canvas or thick denim pant (shorts in the summer). hiking/ work boot for shoes. The only thing I see changing really is I would probably accelerate toward buying multiple of the same outfit for every day but I have been headed in the direction incrementally already. But I am more of 'function over form' person when it comes to clothes.
- hackeraccount 6y ago