Wednesday, January 26, 2005

On the Road to Damascus

For the vast part of my life I have puzzled over the line from "Yankee Doodle" (not a song about the Rebbe's son) "Stuck a feather in his hat and call it macaroni". None of my teachers in school could satisfy my mystification over that line. A feather is not a piece of pasta!!!
Lo, and behold! My boss at the Reg (Taylor) informed me of an alternate definition for macaroni:

2. A dandy or fop; spec. (in the second half of the 18th cent.) a member of a set of young men who had travelled in Europe and extravagantly imitated Continental tastes and fashions. (OED.com)

Now it makes sense! Hazzah!

(P.S.) I am far behind my work in school, so communication will be sparse. Except of course if something traumatic happens, say (to pick a random example) someone gets stabbed in the school-yard and you want to talk about it.
(PPS) In honor of Apple's 21st B-Day I changed the Easter Egg. When I get time I will change it for real.

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