[jQuery] Howto detect DOM element from selected text

Hi there !

I'm stuck with a problem and hope someone can give me the right hint.
I am trying to detect the DOM element on a unkown web page from the
current selected text on that page.

Which means: I select text on a web page and then I would like to get
the dom element to which this text belongs.

What I came up with was something like that: (imagin we selected the
word John on that page....)

var array = $("*:contains('John')"); ---> get all dom
elements that contain the text 'John'

But, instead of returning all dom elements that contain 'John' , it
returns only the path from the HTML element to the P element that
contains the text 'John'. (HTML->Body->P)

Did I miss something ? Is there a complete different way to accomplish
what I want ?

Thanks and good bye,

Alexander