Subject: locofoco sighting

From: Jed Hartman <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 16:49:01 -0400

Background for newcomers: Four years ago, Eric C chose the word loco-foco
for a fictionary round.  The real definition turned out to be:

loco-foco - 1.  n. self-lighting cigar invented by John Marck in 1834.
Also, nickname formerly applied to the Democratic party in the United
States.

I just read a fantasy story by R. Garcia y Robertson called "The Other
Magpie" (originally published in the 4/93 issue of _Asimov's_, but I read
it in _Flying Cups and Saucers: Gender Explorations in Science Fiction and
Fantasy_).  It's sort of the story of the battle of Little Big Horn (1876)
from the point of view of a young Crow woman.  At one point toward the end
of the story, a white army captain is talking to a scout or trapper or
something who the Crow refer to as Plenty Good (and who the captain calls
Tres Bon, or T-Bone for short).  Plenty Good says:

"...If we pitch into _beaucoup_ Sioux, I'll figure I've earned my fifty
cents, an' Son of the Morning Star [Custer] can look out for hisself."  He
stared down at the _cigarillo_ in his hand.  "Got a locofoco to light
this?"  The captain handed him a match, and they passed the burning paper
like a pipe.

So I checked MW10, and found:

Lo.co.fo.co n, pl -focos [locofoco, a kind of friction match, prob. fr. [1]
locomotive + It fuoco, foco fire, fr. L focus hearth] (1835) 1: a member of
a radical group of New York Democrats organized in 1835 in opposition to
the regular party organization 2: democrat 2

So now I'm wondering which came first, the match or the self-lighting cigar...

Sorry if this has already been discussed -- couldn't find a record of it in
my fictionary archives.

--jed