Certain sets of words in the English language tend to confuse people. I have found the following to be among them:
FLOUNDER / FOUNDER
We are all comfortable with the words founder and flounder as nouns:
The founder of our fishing club caught a flounder last weekend.
But when they are verbs, we are more likely to confuse them.
The verb to founder can mean to sink, collapse, or fail:
We saw the ship founder on the rocks.
Many new businesses founder due to lack of enough funds to see them through the first few years before they get a good foothold in the community.
The verb to flounder means to move or speak clumsily; to flail about:
We watched the candidates flounder one after the other in their efforts to answer the question.
I held my breath as I watched my son flounder when stepping from stone to stone while crossing the stream.
If you find yourself about to use a form of the word flounder but feel unsure as to whether it is correct usage, think of that large, flat fish flopping about as it is being caught and see if that relates—either literally or figuratively—with your subject before deciding on the appropriateness of your word choice.
© 2023 Ann Henry. All Rights Reserved.