Word: floundering
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Queeg's mutinous underlings were when Queeg was fighting--right from WWII's beginning--to prevent his grandmother from being turned into a soap-bar. Bogart is Queeg, the psychotic captain of the U.S.S. Caine, and he's fine: it's fun to watch Fred MacMurray and Van Johnson flounder in his midst...
...audience that the entire criminal-law system, including the number of judges, prosecutors and courtrooms, is built on a shaky premise: "that approximately 90% of defendants will plead guilty, leaving only 10%, more or less, to be tried." As defendants exercise new rights, he said, the system could easily flounder. A reduction in guilty pleas to 80% "requires the assignment of twice the judicial manpower and facilities-judges, court reporters, bailiffs, clerks, jurors and courtrooms. A reduction to 70% trebles this demand...
...International Publishing Corp., once waspishly characterized his protege, Editor Hugh Cudlipp, as "a very good first violin, but never really cast to be a conductor." Nevertheless, when King was deposed in a surprise boardroom revolt in 1968, I.P.C. directors picked Cudlipp as his successor. Ailing I.P.C. continued to flounder, so Cudlipp decided that he ought to turn in his baton and, as he put it, "get out my Stradivarius." Last week the Reed Group, a major British paper manufacturer, received government approval to take over I.P.C. for $304 million in stock and debentures...
...rhythm of one year, Russell's gulf is an almost mystical union of womb and grave. Death is "quick, bright, forgettable." Life multiplies with an almost ludicrous optimism. Clouds of plankton feed small fish who in turn are eaten by flounder, mackerel and cod. Big fish chase small fish to the surface, where they are either gobbled from below or grabbed from above by shrieking birds. Shreds of flesh drift to the sea floor to nourish crustaceans...