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locofoco - n., an early match.
As in the rub-it-against-a-surface-and-it-lights -- also called in those days a Lucifer, which gives you an idea of how bright they flared. The origin of this name is more obscure, but seems to have been a trade name coined by combining loco- from locomotive, as in self-moving + Italian fuoco, fire.
The political faction named after this, I leave to the students of American history to discover on their own.
---L.
As in the rub-it-against-a-surface-and-it-lights -- also called in those days a Lucifer, which gives you an idea of how bright they flared. The origin of this name is more obscure, but seems to have been a trade name coined by combining loco- from locomotive, as in self-moving + Italian fuoco, fire.
The political faction named after this, I leave to the students of American history to discover on their own.
---L.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-07 03:03 pm (UTC)