I have to admit as a kid I was always puzzled at the line in Yankee Doodle about a feather in a hat being called macaroni.
I guess I wrote it off to odd lyrics. After all, there were plenty of odd lines in songs — look no farther than that thing about ashes and falling down.
One of my favorite websites, Atlas Obscura had a great article giving context to the macaroni reference. It was all about fashion, and the origins of the song, which was a British way of mocking Americans.
You can check it out here, it is worth a few minutes to read.