Does our nation collectively fit the "Yankee Doodles" profile the way it was initially used, or as what we made it into as we prevailed during the Revolution?
So goes the history from The Kennedy Center:
"The 'Yankee Doodle' tune was already well known by the 1750s. But tradition says that in 1755 a British doctor named Richard Schuckburg penned new words to mock his American allies. He portrayed the colonists as rude, crude, and cowardly. In the song, Schuckberg referred to the American fighter as both a 'doodle'—a country hick, and a 'dandy' —a conceited jerk. No one has ever figured out exactly where the term 'Yankee' comes from. [. . .] Legend has it the colonial militiamen returned the musical insult as they counterattacked. They sang 'Yankee Doodle' as British soldiers retreated."