The following thought is probably not worth the amount of time I'm about to devote to it…but that never stops me. The common Internet term for junk e-mail is spam. It's a noun ("I keep getting spam in my mailbox") and a verb ("Someone's been spamming me") and I've even seen it used as an adjective ("He's been operating a spam campaign").
Just where, I've wondered for some time, did this slang come from? Presumably, someone started using it on some computer bulletin board, even before the Internet made those quaint, dial-up entities obsolete, and it caught on and spread.
But why spam? Of all the silly things in this world that could have been picked, why spam? What is there about the concept of electronic junk mail, I wondered, that led someone to associate the name with a certain brand of canned luncheon meat and inspired others to seize upon it? Someone I asked said it was because Spam (the stuff in cans) is awful and so is unwanted e-mail. This, I cannot accept. I've never tried the product but it's been around for two-thirds of a century. It can't be that terrible…and, even if it is, there are a lot of awful things around. Why don't we refer to e-mail ads as "Cole Slaw?" Or "Ingrown Toenails?" Or "Rob Schneider's last movie?"
Why, I wondered, did spam come to denote someone sending you an unwanted e-mail ad for money-making schemes or penis enlargement? (Almost all the spam I receive presumes I am short on either funds or something else.) True, its silly name and lack of connection to "real" food may well make it the butt of jokes. It's actually a cut of ham that's been spiked with preservatives and spices. The name is short for Spiced Ham but I don't think most people know that. Seemed to me, it's widely considered to be some kind of artificial, canned mystery meat…but, again, I didn't see the link to e-mail.
It only began to make sense when I thought of the Monty Python routine in which a greasy-spoon diner serves "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans and Spam." Perhaps, one day, someone found their computer inbox filled primarily with unwanted e-mail solicitations. Instead of muttering, "Ad, ad, ad, ad, ad, ad, ad, ad, message from Phil, ad," etc., they started imitating the Pythons, likening the pattern of junk mail to the constancy of Spam in that cafe. Add to that the concept that the Hormel product is innocuous or perhaps that it's a meat that seems to come from no known animal — just like Internet ads seem to do — and the nickname kinda, sorta applies. Maybe.
I have since stumbled upon The Official Spam Website…which I guess means that there is now nothing on the planet that does not have its own Official Website. Anyway, the Hormel company has its own explanation which you can read at www.spam.com or you can go by my summary, which is as follows…
They claim that it's because, in the Python sketch, a chorus of Vikings start singing, "Spam, spam, spam," etc., and it drowns out the dialogue, the way spam messages stifle dialogue on discussion forums. I'm not sure I buy this. It sounds to me like the Spam™ People (wasn't that a Roger Corman movie?) are reaching for a spin that casts no negatives on the dignity of their product. In any case, the point of the sketch is that Spam (the meat) is constant, that it turns up ad nauseam, that it's something you'd be stupid to welcome but, in this eatery, it's forced on you. Surely, whoever first applied the name to electronic advertising regarded it as an insult.
Perhaps I'm overthinking this matter. No, I take that back. I know I'm overthinking this matter. But if anyone reading this has any better explanation, I'd love to hear it.