Locofoco

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The Word of the Day for December 6 is: 

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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