Lords and Ladies of the European Middle Ages made a complicated game of hunting. One branch of that game involves Terms of Venery. These are specific names for collection of animals. We still talk about a pride of lions and a pack of wolves. These are hangovers from those mostly archaic lists. They talked about a clash of bucks, a rascal of boys, a mute of hounds, and a rage of maidens (go figure). A group of our naked tailed friends was a mischief of rats.

This the prevalence of “mischief” in naming Swamp Rat blades.