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The Origin of The Word Spam'

The document discusses the origin of the word "spam" being used to refer to unsolicited electronic communications. It traces the word back to a 1970 Monty Python sketch where everything on a cafe menu contained spam. Some early internet users who were fans of the comedy found the repetitive singing of "spam" in the sketch aptly described mass, unwanted emails. The word was adopted as it referred to something sent frequently, indiscriminately, and annoyingly.

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62 views

The Origin of The Word Spam'

The document discusses the origin of the word "spam" being used to refer to unsolicited electronic communications. It traces the word back to a 1970 Monty Python sketch where everything on a cafe menu contained spam. Some early internet users who were fans of the comedy found the repetitive singing of "spam" in the sketch aptly described mass, unwanted emails. The word was adopted as it referred to something sent frequently, indiscriminately, and annoyingly.

Uploaded by

Prasad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The origin of the word ‘spam’ | THE GOOD WORD http://www.thegoodword.co.

uk/2010/09/20/the-origin-of-the-word-spam/

THE GOOD WORD

LANGUAGE

THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD ‘SPAM’


SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 | PAUL SAWERS | 2 COMMENTS

Spam is the scourge of the digital age. Naturally I don’t mean the processed meat that comes
served in a tin (though that is pretty distasteful too), but the deluge of unsolicited email that I
and millions of others receive on a daily basis.

But why ‘spam’? I mean, why has a word that’s best associated with a poor-quality meat prod-
uct been so widely embraced as the universal word for unwanted electronic communications?

I asked a multitude of people who’ve worked in IT for over a decade why the word ‘spam’ has
been appropriated for this use and not one could answer – in fact, nobody was really all that
bothered. A word is just a word, after all.

But for those of you out there who, like me, like to know why certain words get to where they
are, I’ve done a little digging. Well, I knocked on a few doors at Google, if truth be told.

It can be traced back to 1970 actually. Month Python’s Flying Circus – one of the finest come-
dies of all time, might I add – did a famous sketch on the subject of Spam (the food product),

1 of 2 22-01-2021, 02:46 pm
The origin of the word ‘spam’ | THE GOOD WORD http://www.thegoodword.co.uk/2010/09/20/the-origin-of-the-word-spam/

where everything in a cafe came served with at least some Spam. ‘Eggs and Spam’, Chips and
Spam’, ‘Egg, Spam, Chips and Spam’…and so on. And randomly, some Vikings (your guess is
as good as mine…) start singing a song consisting pretty much entirely of the word ‘Spam’, until
told to shut up.

And this was why the word ‘Spam’ came to be associated with unsolicited, mass electronic
communications. A handful of early internet users with a penchant for John Cleese & Co’s clas-
sic comedy decided that ‘spam’ was an apt expression for something that is sent repeatedly, in-
discriminately and to everyone’s chagrin.

Watch the clip for yourself here:

LANGUAGE ORIGIN OF WORDS SPAM

2 of 2 22-01-2021, 02:46 pm

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