Terracotta

There is a general knowledge quiz in the weekly doctors' newspaper we get at work, so that keeps us entertained for one lunch break a week. Angela likes to play quiz mistress, and today her two contestants were me and New Brian, or, as she is usually called, Fiona.

Angela: Okay, question eight. What is a formicary? That's f-o-r-m-i-c-a-r-y, formicary.
Fiona: An apothecary is an old pharmacist, so is a formicary some sort of other old medical trade? An old surgeon or something?
Me: Or formica is this stuff [taps the table top], so is a formicary something to do with that? A tiler or something?

I mean, feel free to laugh at our ignorance. I'd never heard the word before. Anyway:

Angela: No, but I'll give you a hint. Alicia's guess was closer.
Me: A carpenter? Someone involved with plastics?
Fiona: It is a job, though?
Angela: No, it's a thing.
Fiona: Formicary, library. It's where they make formica.
Me: It's a box for keeping formica in.
Angela: No, no, no.
Fiona: We give up. We're not going to get it.
Angela: It's an ant hill.
Me: How is an ant hill closer to a tiler than it is to a pharmacist?
Angela: I was thinking of when you knocked on the table. You know, table, ant hill, the top of them both is off the ground.

I ask you, f-list. Would you have got it based on that hint?