Say What?

Have you ever seen a word used and thought you knew is meaning? Not long ago I was asked the definition of what I considered a fairly familiar word and found myself fumbling to come up with a satisfactory answer.

Consider things we say without thinking. Take 'kith and kin.' We know, of course, that kin is short for kinfolks or relatives. But what exactly are 'kith?' According to the dictionary: friends or relatives. I hadn't given thought to that before.

How about the expression 'flotsam and jetsam?' Did you know that jetsam is cargo thrown overboard to lighten a vessel (i.e. jettisoned) while flotsam is debris of any kind on the water?

These are not earth-shaking matters, but they remind us to say what we mean and know what we're talking about.