whack-a-mole

Meaning

Noun

• The practice of trying to stop something that persistently occurs in an apparently random manner at the point where the occurrence is noticed, such as terminating spammers' e-mail accounts or closing pop-up advertisement windows.

Origin

• After the arcade game Whac-A-Mole, which involves quickly and repeatedly hitting the heads of mechanical mole with a mallet as they pop up from holes. The name of the arcade game was clearly a pun on guacamole.