Friday, November 18, 2011

Spark

"The action sparked a massive protest," reads one account in today's news.  Well, what does that mean?

A spark is a tiny flame, the little bits of fire that a welder gives off.  But occasionally, a spark will create a fire--and that's when we say that something "sparked" either a fire, or more metaphorically, a situation.

Like so many of our words, "spark"comes from Middle English--and it's a very common word indeed!

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