FLOTSAM

PRONUNCIATION: (FLOT-suhm)

MEANING: noun:
1. Goods found floating after a shipwreck.
2. People or things considered useless or unimportant.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old French floter (to float). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pleu- (to flow), which is also the source of flow, float, flit, fly, flutter, pulmonary, pneumonia, pluvial, and fletcher. Earliest documented use: 1607.
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FLOATSAM - called to Detective Spade when he fell overboard

FLOTOSAM - part of CB radio exchange between Florence and Samantha

FLOSSAM - what your dentist wants you to do to your teeth more often