When Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni, what exactly was he calling macaroni? The feather itself? The combination of the hat and feather? Or maybe the whole situation of riding into town on a pony while wearing a feathered hat?
'macaroni' was like a crazy wig, and also kind of a fashion meme in the late 1700s. probably originates from hipsters going to italy and trying macaroni (a new type of hipster pasta). but in england, 'macaroni' came to mean just any kind of cheap/outrageous fashion decisions