Flimsy Sanity: Word for the day

Flimsy Sanity

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. - Friedrich Nietzsche

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Word for the day

Locofoco \loh-kuh-FOH-koh\ noun
1 : a member of a radical group of New York Democrats
organized in 1835 in opposition to the regular party organization
*2 : a member of the Democratic party of the United States

Example sentence:
"It might be said that Roosevelt was the greatest locofoco since
Andrew Jackson." (Robert E. Sherwood, _Roosevelt and Hopkins_)

Did you know?
"Locofoco" burned brightest in 19th-cenutry America, where it
designated a new type of self-igniting match or cigar capable of being
lit by friction on a hard surface. The word is believed to combine the
adjective "locomotive" (which was commonly taken to mean
"self-propelled," though "loco" actually means "place," not "self," in Latin) and
the Italian word for "fire," "fuoco." The political meaning of "Locofoco"
is a story in itself. In 1835, a group of radical Democrats brought
locofoco matches to one of their meetings after hearing that their
adversaries were plotting to disrupt the meeting by putting out the gas
lights. The room did indeed go black but was soon relit, thus earning the
group its name.

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