Writers employ "flounder" both in its literal sense—as a type of flatfish—and more frequently as a vivid metaphor for clumsy, ineffective movement or thought. It is used to evoke the image of struggling on without direction, as when a character persistently pushes forward in the face of difficulty [1, 2, 3, 4]. At other times, "flounder" serves to inject a note of whimsy or surreal absurdity into dialogue, where characters may refer to an enchanted, authority-conferring fish in almost fairy-tale exchanges [5, 6, 7]. This rich duality is further exploited when authors blend the tangible with the abstract, using the fish’s physical characteristics as an extended metaphor for human frailty or indecision—a notion humorously captured in literary works that mix practical descriptions with fanciful banter [8, 9, 10]. Overall, the term adds layers of texture to the narrative, functioning both as a concrete reference and a symbolic device to portray the stumbling, often desperate efforts of individuals in challenging circumstances.