Flotsam and jetsam

This expression now means odds and ends. As an experiment, try typing flotsam and jetsam using MS Word. It will underline the expression and suggest that you use ‘miscellaneous items’ or ‘useless items’ instead. Clearly, the programmers of MS Word have something against the expression, as a cliché perhaps, even though it is rarely used these days. In the 15th century, flotsam and jetsam referred to an important distinction in Maritime Law. Flotsam is from the French floter to float” (we get the words flotation and flotilla from the same source). Its original meaning is wreckage found floating on the surface of the sea. Jetsam is also from the French jeter to throw and we get the word jettison from the same source. Jetsam originally meant items or goods deliberately thrown overboard to lighten a ship’s load in order to save it from floundering. In terms of the law, flotsam was seen as wreckage and therefore could be salvaged and claimed by anyone. Jetsam, on the other hand, was thrown overboard in an emergency and was still the legal property of the shipper. See also Jettison.