whack-a-mole 
idiom

- a situation in which problems or issues keep appearing repeatedly, making it difficult to deal with them all

- the brand name of a game, often found at fairgrounds or amusement arcades, in which you have to hit toy moles (= small mammals that live under the ground) with a special hammer as soon as they jump out of holes in a board

The Cambridge Dictionary

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PHRASE ORIGIN

The term comes directly from the arcade game "Whac-A-Mole" (note the specific spelling), created by Aaron Fechter and manufactured by Bob's Space Racers in 1976. The game featured plastic moles that would pop up from holes, and players would use a padded mallet to "whac" them back down before they disappeared.

"Whack" derives from the 18th-century onomatopoeia mimicking the sound of a sharp blow, related to "thwack”. “Mole" comes from Middle English molle, from Middle Dutch mol, ultimately from Proto-Germanic, referring to the burrowing mammal.

The phrase began appearing metaphorically in business and political contexts during the 1980s and 1990s. Early documented uses describe repetitive problem-solving where new issues emerge as quickly as old ones are resolved.

By the late 1990s, "whack-a-mole" had become a standard metaphor in English, often hyphenated when used as an adjective ("whack-a-mole situation"). The game's trademarked "Whac-A-Mole" spelling gradually gave way to the more intuitive "whack-a-mole" in metaphorical usage.

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CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
How different languages express idiomatically the concept of mole-whacking:

- German: "Sisyphusarbeit" (Sisyphus work — endless, repetitive tasks that never reach completion)

- French: "Boucher un trou avec un autre" (plugging one hole with another — like patching a leaky dam where new leaks keep appearing)

- Spanish: "Tapar el sol con un dedo" (covering the sun with one finger)

- Italian: "Spegnere un incendio con un bicchiere d’acqua" (putting out a fire with a glass of water)

- Russian: "Latat’ dyry” (patching holes — like holes in a boat that keep appearing)

- Japanese: “Mogura Tataki” (mole hitting — the same game reference as in English)

- Chinese (Mandarin): “Àn xià húlú fú qǐ piáo” (press down a gourd, and a ladle floats up)

- Portuguese: "Enxugar gelo" (wiping ice — like trying to dry ice that continues to melt)

- Arabic: "Sadd al-thaghra wa-fath ukhra” (closing one gap and opening another)

- Dutch: "Dweilen met de kraan open" (mopping with the tap running)

These idioms reflect how different languages use vivid, culture-specific metaphors—firefighting, patching, or mopping—to convey the same concept of tackling persistent, recurring problems, much like the English "whacking a mole." The imagery varies, but the core idea of futility and endless effort remains universal.

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

band-aid on a bullet wound, battling hydras, bailing out a sinking boat, cleaning the augean stables, closing pandora’s box, endless firefighting, fighting brushfires (shadows, the tide), filling a leaky bucket, hamster wheel, herding cats, hitting a moving target, holding back the ocean with a broom, hydra-headed problem, leak in the dam, mopping up quicksand, never-ending cycle, perpetual patching, plugging holes in a sieve, pushing on a string, putting out fires, rearranging deck chairs on the titanic, runaway treadmill, shoveling sand against the tide, Sisyphean task, spinning plates, squashing bugs, treadmill race, WHACK-A-MOLE

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SMUGGLE
 OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“Having to constantly delete spam mails feels like WHACKING-A-MOLE.”

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P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D