Locofoco

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The Word of the Day for December 6 is:=20

Locofoco   \loh-kuh-FOH-koh\   noun
          1 : a member of a radical group of New York Democrats organize=
d in 1835 in opposition to the regular party organization=20
    *2 : a member of the Democratic party of the United States

Example sentence:
     "It might be said that Roosevelt was the greatest locofoco since An=
drew 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 l=
it by friction on a hard surface. The word is believed to combine the ad=
jective "locomotive" (which was commonly taken to mean "self-propelled,"=
 though "loco" actually means "place," not "self," in Latin) and the Ita=
lian 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 we=
re plotting to disrupt the meeting by putting out the gas lights. The ro=
om did indeed go black but was soon relit, thus earning the group its na=
me.





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