Michael Wolff

Bill de Blasio, for his part, became the mayor of New York, surely the most powerful local political position in the nation, and arguably - after Giuliani and Bloomberg - one with a national base, one with, practically speaking, no job at all. He went from marginal political flotsam and jetsam to extraordinary centrality within a few months time.

American Author

Susanna Moore

The chance of any species reaching and then surviving on an island as distant as one of the Hawaiian chain is infinitesimal, but despite the extraordinary odds, plants and seeds found their way ashore, carried by the tide or blown by trade winds, inside birds or in their feathers, in the branches of trees and in the jetsam of sunken ships.

American Writer

Originally refers to items thrown from ships, typically used in nautical or maritime contexts.

Maritime Origin

'Jetsam' can be accidental, not just deliberate discarding to lighten a vessel.

Not Always Intentional

In legal terms, 'jetsam' has specific meaning different from similar terms like flotsam.

Legal Distinction

Used metaphorically, it signifies discarding unwanted items that clutter one's life or environment.

Metaphorical Use

Jetsam implies uselessness or the act of discarding something without value.

Negative Connotation

Jetsam suggests something is not just discarded, but also burdensome or in the way.

Encumbrance Aspect

 quantity of food that washes up everyday on coastlines around the world but like so much of the coast the quantity of flotsam and jetsam is unpredictable nobody can rely on it alone this carcass even attracted a shy pack of wolves only

Dead Whale Carcass Feast...

 clobbered earth our planet survived i mean obviously but not in one piece a huge chunk flew away from earth and that became our moon but ultimately we get the planets we have today and all of this other flotsam and jetsam

Lucy in the Sky with...

 has hung like the sword of Damocles over my head. I mean, who can remember what they said a year ago? Scared and mortified, I listen, listen as I prattle on about the flotsam and jetsam of the day;