a popular Americansong, dating from the eighteenth century. The early settlers of New York were Dutch, and the Dutch name for Johnny is Janke, pronounced Yankee. Doodle meant "simpleton" in seventeenth-century English. The song was first sung during the AmericanRevolutionary War (1775 - 1781) by the British troops to poke fun at the strange ways of the Americans (Yankees). The first verse is:/"Yankee Doodle went to town a-riding on a pony,/ Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni." —State of ManCongress Approved Gls (14.5.92)