Flotsam, Jetsam and Ducks- a podcast

Today I have two words for you. Flotsam and jetsam. Both are nouns and both describe stuff that had been thrown into the ocean from a boat.

Flotsam is, broadly, floating debris or a collection of miscellaneous stuff. Technically, it is stuff that has fallen off a boat, either cargo or wreckage. Flotsam can also be used to describe a population of emigrants or castaways. Flotsam can be traced back to various Old English, Old French and Germanic words meaning float.

Jetsam on the other hand is cargo or ship parts that have been deliberately thrown over board, jettisoned. Usually to lighten the ship's load in a time of distress.

In 1992 thousands of rubber ducks were washed off the deck of a cargo ship. Since then the ducks have been tracked all over the world by scientist to study the effects of ocean currents.

P.S. Jon Udell has posted a tool for creating bookmarklets that allow you to search your local library for a book you have found at Amazon. For example you come across a book at Amazon.com and you are wondering if your library has it. Click on the bookmarklet and it will look the book up at your local library. To build a bookmarlet for your local library visit Jon's site.

I also want to thank Ian Olsen-Clark for creating one that works with my local library in Denver Colorado. If you need a bookmarklet for Denver's Public Library of for Ian's local library, Chicago Public Library visit Ian's site- theboxfactory.com.