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Whenever the government announces the failure of another bank, a news outlet somewhere reports that the bank has âfloundered.â
Well it did âflounder,â but once the government seized it, it stopped âflounderingâ and started âfoundering.â
âFlounderâ and âfounderâ have very similar spellings and meanings, so itâs no wonder that so many people confuse them.
Historically, to âflounderâ has meant âto move about awkwardlyâ; âthrash aboutâ; âbecome mired.â Youâre clumsy, perhaps stuck in quicksand, but youâre still fighting. To âfounderâ means âto sinkâ or âto collapse.â The word is often used in a nautical sense: the Oxford English Dictionary traces it to a verb meaning âplunge to the bottom, submerge.â
Many people have used mnemonic devices to differentiate them. One is that when the âflounderingâ is over, the ship goes to ââell.â Another utilized the image of a flopping âflounder,â those fish with both eyes on the same side. If you are too engrossed watching that âflounderâ flop around on the deck, your boat might strike the rocks and then âfounder.â (In which case, the âflounderâ goes free and you are very wet.)
In other words, something âfloundersâ before it âfounders.â
But over the years the definitions have been cross-contaminated. Under âfounder,â Websterâs New World College Dictionary, used by many journalists, includes âto fill with water, as during a storm, and sink: said of a ship or boatâ and âto break down; collapse; fail.â But its first (and thus earliest) definition is âto become stuck as in soft ground; bog down.â That last one sounds more like âflounderingâ than âfounderingâ to many.
Under âfloundering,â WNW lists only âto struggle awkwardly to move, as in deep mud or snow; plunge about in a stumbling mannerâ and âto speak or act in an awkward, confused manner, with hesitation and frequent mistakes.â
Other dictionaries âflounderâ less. All the definitions for âfounderâ in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language imply a collapse; the closest to âflounderingâ those definitions come are âto stumble, especially to stumble and go lameâ and âto cave in; sink.â It acknowledges the confusion, though, in a usage note with âflounderâ: âIf John is foundering in Chemistry 1, he had better drop the course; if he is floundering, he may yet pull through.â
Garnerâs Modern American Usage says that both âflounderâ and âfounderâ mean failure, but to different degrees: âTo flounder is to struggle and plunge as if in mud (not, in other words, to fail completely).â
If all this is making you flop about wondering which to use, go fish.
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