No, I did not make that up, and I did not mean 'sparks on insertion' I meant 'sparks while inserted', though 'sparks on insertion' is not good either for your socket.
American plugs spark (much) more frequently and strongly than their equivalent UK/EU plugs because the spring pressure from the side contacts is insufficient to maintain good contact over the lifetime of an installation, especially if the plugs are also worn. The fact that typically the current is twice as high doesn't help either (though if you get zapped it's less of a problem than in 230V installations, the US uses a balanced 110 system for most residential circuits where only a few receptacles which are of a different design have both sides of the step-down transformer outside of the house running to them).
The UK/EU plugs are of a much more solid construction than the American ones, as are the wallsockets they go in to.
I've seen US sockets that made an audible buzz while operating and get extremely hot (hot enough to melt the plastic). Not good.
The usual way in which it gets to this state is that a socket has been overloaded a couple of times, or heavy load is plugged in or removed while switched on, the contacts have corroded or have some soot build up on them and then the resistance increases enough to start a runaway process that ends with the socket failing altogether or with the socket getting so hot that the plastic outside cover will start to melt.
At that point all bets are off, especially in houses that are mostly constructed from wooden sticks instead of brick or concrete.
Another cause of trouble like this is that there was a short period when due to the supply issues with copper electrical wire made of aluminum was tried in residential installations in the US.
These required special fixtures so the wire would not come lose as the aluminum compressed over time thus shrinking away from the contact and causing an airgap and thus sparking.
This kind of wiring is no longer 'code' and if you have such wiring it wouldn't harm to periodically tighten up on the screws to ensure good contact.
Aluminum oxide build-up compounds this problem.
People always blame 'short circuits' for electrical fires, but most of the time this is nonsense, since the breaker will almost always instantly trip in a short circuit situation. That's what they're designed to do.
Half shorts (shorts that are of a resistance low enough to cause significant heat build-up and high enough not to cause the breaker to trip) and faulty contacts (intermittent contacts, sparks and thus heat) are a much more frequent cause of fire.
Another big cause of fire is counterfeit junk hitting the market and do-it-yourself types that don't know the difference using this to wire up that extra socket for a space-heater in the attic.