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Please tell me the meaning of ((feeling flatter than a fritter)) in this paragraph:

It is different every day. My whole day’s plans might go out the window because a teacher’s lesson plans change. Someone might snag me in the hall and open up a new opportunity for me. I love that part. I always go in wondering what will happen. I’m always challenged and surprised. And just like teaching, some days I expect trouble, and things work out beautifully; other days I expect smooth sailing, and I end up feeling flatter than a fritter.

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    If up is good and down is bad, then flat is down on the floor and therefore bad. The narrator feels bad on days when easy work "smooth sailing" is expected, but there are problems. Fritters are food items fried in a flat pan, so they are flat. "Flatter than a fritter" is an appealing-sounding phrase because so many sounds are shared between "flatter" and "fritter."
    – jejorda2
    Commented Jul 1, 2019 at 14:43

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Fritters are somewhat dense and are not known for being tall. Here, from Wikipedia, an apple fritter:

enter image description here

Being flatter than something flat, or more adjective than something-already-adjective, is a kind of exaggeration that qualifies that you are extremely adjective. In this case, while a fritter is physically flat, the writer is playing off of negative associations with flat, like being laid low or being dull. (Def. 1b in the previous link to Merriam-Webster is especially suggestive: ": utterly ruined or destroyed." The day flattens the writer.) So it's a kind of pun, combining the literal and figurative meanings of flatness to emphasize just how hard his day is. The resulting contrast fits the tenor of the last sentence:

And just like teaching, some days I expect trouble, and things work out beautifully; other days I expect smooth sailing, and I end up feeling flatter than a fritter.

Trouble and working out beautifully are contrasts; smooth sailing and flatter than a fritter should also contrast.

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  • Thank you for introducing me to the existence of apple fritters.
    – marcellothearcane
    Commented Jul 1, 2019 at 21:13

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