WHAT’S IN A NAME?
A labour of moles
THE TERM ‘LABOUR OF MOLES’ DERIVES from the idea of moles as hardworking miners, toiling underground for the common good. They have long been thought of as industrious, with poets Virgil and Dryden writing of “the blind laborious mole”. Evidence of that toil above ground, however, has proved unwelcome to farmers, causing moles to be regarded as vermin. Other collective nouns include fortress and company.