make the sparks fly

Idioms  

1. Start a fight or argument, as in If Mary finds out he went to the races without her, that will make the sparks fly. In this idiom, the small particles of a fire called sparks are transferred to an inflammatory situation. [Early 1900s]

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Example Sentences

Keene is a master of the grand gesture and can make the sparks fly even in a piece as reflective as Britten's War Requiem.

From Time Magazine Archive

When the ladies or the gentlemen lifted me to pass their hands over my snowy back to make the sparks fly from my hair, the old woman remarked with pride, "You can hold her without having any fear for your dress; she is admirably well-bred!"

From Project Gutenberg

In time they would make the sparks fly and would be in their turn assailed as mere blacksmiths by the next line of younger apprentices.

From Project Gutenberg