Garbage Patch
n.— «They were trapped in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a gigantic swirl of rotating water thousands of miles across, which is also known as the Garbage Patch.…Our oceans have become vast rubbish dumps and the Garbage Patch is the most polluted area of all. One researcher who sailed through it in 1998 described the area as a giant toilet, forever swirling but unable to flush. He later wrote: “I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic.”» —“Drake’s other armada” by David Thomas Daily Mail (United Kingdom) July 24, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
To joner means to “bring bad luck to” or “jinx.” This term is a corruption of the name Jonah, the biblical figure who initially resisted a divine command. His presence on board a ship supposedly caused a great storm at sea...
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it’s the young Mary Anning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perhaps, but the story of her rise from seaside...