Laggin' With Our Vocab

Even here in the swamp, we encounter new words from time to time...what a pleasurable thrill, to learn a fine new word...Below is a nice entry from the Phrase Finder web site of UK expressions, about LAGAN, our new word of the day... link is here,

PHRASE FINDER DEFINITION OF FLOTSAM, JETSAM, LAGAN
(Special Thanks to Meteora)

Flotsam, jetsam and lagan: Ships' goods which are lost at sea. Also used figuratively in non-nautical contexts to means odds and ends, bits and pieces.

Origin

Flotsam and jetsam are rarely seen apart nowadays although the words, in a variety of spellings, have separate meanings and were frequently used independently in the 17th century.

Whenever flotsam and jetsam meet for a drink they always reminisce about the family's long-lost triplet - lagan. That's the word for goods or wreckage that lie at the bottom of the sea and, like Gummo and Zeppo Marx, it rarely gets a mention.

Around the turn of the 17th century though, lagan was still in vogue.

Butflotsam and jetsam formed an alliance of their own and allowed lagan to sink out of trace in the early 19th century. Sir Walter Scott, in his Diary, 1848 (later printed by John Lockhart) mentions this:

"The goods and chattles of the inhabitants are all said to savour of Flotsome and Jetsome."

See also - phrases coined by Sir Walter Scott.