flounder/founder

You've undoubtedly heard of flounder, but founder is one of those words you don't hear very often. Maybe because a lot of people don't know what it means. Well, I'm here to change that.

If you flounder, you stumble or flail around like a fish on a pier. Speaking of fish, a flounder is a type of fish, but we're referring to it here as a verb. Since it was his first time on skates, John floundered all over the ice.

You can also founder, but you probably don't want to do that. Foundering isn't a good thing since it means "to fail miserably." Given the current state of the economy, many businesses unfortunately are foundering.

I guess since John floundered all over the ice, he foundered at his first attempt at skating. Don't worry, though. He'll get better.

Did you ever notice that there seems to be a disproportionate number of guys named John who can't skate? All right, you got me. I made that one up.