Floundering As/For Flatfish

When we're having trouble articulating our arguments, why do we (by which I mean I) say we're (I'm) floundering? Because I do, and I am; but it has nothing to do with this:



Who's the flounder here? Me? ...Then what's running me down and stabbing me?

I want to be the spearfisher who catches the flounder -- the flounder should be the argument. That is: I, the knife-handed hunter, hone in on my prey [read: thesis], the flippy-floppy little flatfish hiding in the sand.

Then why am I floundering?

Isn't "floundering" synonymous with 'spearfishing'? If that's the case, then I am kind of floundering (or I want to be "floundering" [fishing for flounder] but am actually floundering [flopping under the spear of a fisherman]). Maybe floundering on one side of the stick is the necessary prelude to floundering on the other.

Bottom line: it might flip, and it might flop, but once the fish is speared, it's a dead-gone thing.