mole; dressage

Mon Apr 16 11:26:22 UTC 2012

John le Carre' introduced "mole" into the common vocabulary in 1974. He
defined it as "a deep penetration agent."  IIRC, Francis Bacon once used
the term as a nonce metaphor in a similar way.

I was using "planted" in the sense of "in place." In any event, the Fox guy
wasn't working for any rivals while employed at Fox.

Another word that might apply in the this case is "whistle-blower," but
that's obviously hackneyed and sleep-inducing.

JL

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 12:16 AM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: mole; dressage
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Below is a snippet in which "mole" is used to describe Mark Whitacre.
> I do not think Whitacre was planted in ADM by the FBI. I also do not
> think he was actively recruited by the FBI after he joined ADM. (But I
> am not sure about this. I did not follow this case carefully.)
>
> Management and organizational behavior
> Curtis W. Cook, Phillip L. Hunsaker, Robert E. Coffey - 1997 - 642
> pages - Snippet view
> Bothered by the apparent price-fixing implications of how ADM
> conducted business, Mark Whitacre became a mole for the FBI, later
> blowing the whistle on ADM. Embittered by the experience, he told
> Fortune: For 2 1/2 years I worked ...
>
> Whitacre may have simply volunteered to give information to the FBI
> because he was unhappy with some activities at ADM and viewed himself
> as a whistleblower. It is possible that the individual at Fox News
> held an analogous view of himself as a whistleblower. So this example
> might be evidence of "mole" being used with a meaning similar to that
> identified by Jon. To complete the analogy Gawker would be viewed as
> an "enemy" or "adversary" of Fox News.
>
>
> Below is an example of a "mole" who was not deliberately planted in
> advance. Instead, Boesky was recruited with legal pressure. But one
> might say Boesky was "planted" when he started to cooperate with the
> Feds.
>
> New York Magazine - Dec 4, 1989 - Page 54
> Vol. 22, No. 48 - 240 pages - Magazine - Full view
> When the Feds told Boesky they'd go easy on him if he became a mole,
> he started telling them everything he could think of about Drexel, the
> firm whose deals had made him rich. Last December, Drexel caved in to
> threats of a racketeering
>
>
> Below are two "moles" that I do not think were deliberately planted by
> the Soviets. (Admittedly, my memory is hazy about these events.) I
> think they volunteered information to the Soviets to gain money and
> maybe experience excitement.
>
> The Ghost War
> Alex Berenson - 2009 - 561 pages - Google eBook - Preview
> Both Ames and Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent who became a mole in the
> mid-1980s, worked with impunity until their Soviet handlers betrayed
> them—and Ames and Hanssen had been far less cautious than ...
>
> Garson
>
> On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 10:38 PM, Dave Hause <dwhause at jobe.net> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dave Hause <dwhause at JOBE.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: mole; dressage
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Most anything on the intelligence community would use this definition.
> > "Kim" Philby is probably one of the classic examples.
> > Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
> > Waynesville, MO 65583
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Dan Goncharoff" <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> > To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2012 8:40 PM
> > Subject: Re: mole; dressage
> >
> >
> > Where does your definition of "mole" come from. Most "moles" in
> literature
> > have been agents of one side turned by the other. Planting a "mole" takes
> > decades; turning an agent can just be a question of money.
> >
> > DanG
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 12:13 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      mole; dressage
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> A disgruntled former Fox News employee has been revealing hideous
> network
> >> secrets on the Net. The media call him a "mole":
> >>
> >>  http://news.yahoo.com/fox-news-digs-mole-suspends-him-022042144.html
> >>
> >> A "mole," however, is a spy planted by the enemy.  In this case, there
> is
> >> no enemy. The word they want is "turncoat" or "rat" or, for those of a
> >> certain age, "fink."
> >>
> >> The same article tells how Gov. Romney inadvertently broke a verbal
> taboo
> >> opening him to further ridicule.  The "mole" exposed him.
> >>
> >> JL
> >>
> >> --
> >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> >> truth."
> >>
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