I've known this verb for many years from an old song by Alain Souchon called Papa mambo. The song's refrain is On est foutu, on mange trop, mais qu'est-ce qu'on fera quand on sera gros (we're screwed, we eat too much, what'll we do when we're fat?). The particular line with this week's word is l'albatros patauge dans l'ice cream.
I was reminded of it over the weekend when one of the commentators calling a tennis match at Roland Garros said something to the effect that the players (it was a doubles match) pataugeaient dans la terre battue.The verb patauger comes from patte, which means an animal's foot, or paw. It means to splash around as in water or mud. It also means to lose your way or to be unable to get out of a situation. I'm not sure what the commentator's intent was ; were the players actually just tromping around in the clay or were they unable to get out of the sticky situation they were in ?
Maybe the American equivalent is to MUDDLE.
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