# Spam and, well, Spam **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2000, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-and-well-spam/27537 "2000-07-31T13:10:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-and-well-spam/27537/1 "2000-07-31T13:10:34Z")
If I’m not mistaken, it’s Hormel that introduced the world to Spam. I checked under [http://www.spam.com](http://www.spam.com) and [http://www.hormel.com](http://www.hormel.com) , and both links yield no response. My question is this. Does anyone know of any reaction from the folks at Hormel to the proliferation of the term “spam” being associated with junk email? I wonder if they figure that name recognition is a good thing, and they don’t mind it? Or perhaps they dislike the negativity that has become associated with the word? Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-and-well-spam/27537/2 "2000-07-31T13:39:51Z")
Hmm, I found this: [Spam and the Internet](http://www.spam.com/ci/ci_in.htm) ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-and-well-spam/27537/3 "2000-07-31T13:40:06Z")
this is beginning to feel like grounghog day. The same threads repeated over and over. [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=14540) [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=28245) ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-and-well-spam/27537/4 "2000-07-31T13:48:12Z")
CurtC, thanks. I honestly did try [http://www.spam.com](http://www.spam.com) before I posted the question, and their server ws not responding. And sailor, thanks a million for the smug attitude and those two threads that don’t answer my question at all. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-and-well-spam/27537/5 "2000-07-31T13:54:50Z")
Sorry, sailor–my bust. I did a search , and found the “What is the best thing to do with spam?” thread, read the first few replies, and it seemed like it was heading in a technical direction. There is a link in that thread that answers my question. Although the second link you posted does not answer the question. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-and-well-spam/27537/6 "2000-07-31T14:06:19Z")
Well, **MB,** I don’t have any particular “in” with Hormel, but my guess would be that they’re probably delighted at the proliferation of the word. Like they say in Hollywood, “the only bad publicity is no publicity”. If I were CEO of Hormel, I’d be ecstatic at a social trend that kept my product’s name in the public eye practically 24/7, not to mention dispersing knowledge of my product world-wide via the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![jayron\_32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jayron\_32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayron_32)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-and-well-spam/27537/7 "2000-07-31T14:08:12Z")
From the first thread sailor has listed: **Nurlman** > [@](#): > > The general consensus is that it derives metaphorically from the Monty Python sketch. If you > recall the sketch, a couple of people are sitting in a diner trying to order, while a crowd of Vikings > (never mind) behind them begin chanting “Spam, spam, spam, spam” over and over again, > eventually drowning out all other conversation. So it is with junk postings on Usenet-- they > eventually get so obstrusive as to overwhelm normal discussions. > > **Hormel, the manufacturer of SPAM, sides with the Monty Python explanation: > [http://www.spam.com/ci/ci\_in.htm](http://www.spam.com/ci/ci_in.htm) . This same page indicates that they have no objection to the use of > the term, but ask that internet “spam” be distinguised from the food (-ish) SPAM by means of > fully capitalizing the latter.** (bold mine) from the second thread \*\* dtilque:\*\* > [@](#): > > Originally, spam was massive crossposts to every Usenet newsgroup (at the time, probably less > than a thousand groups). The term spam was coined to describe this crossposting before anyone > started harvesting email addresses from Usenet for emailings. Finally, if the words of other Teeming Millions are not enough, master Cecil himself has posted, in a column located at: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_229.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_229.html) > [@](#): > > As for what Monty Python saw in Spam, one supposes they were celebrating the ineffable, I dunno, pinkness of it all. (The > Brits, like so many others, had been introduced to Spam during World War II.) Their famous Spam sketch, in which the > dialogue is periodically drowned out by the chorus “Spam, Spam, Spam,” was the inspiration for the Internet term “Spam,” > meaning the junk E-mail that now floods the net. Either you haven’t searched hard enough, or you refuse to accept all the evidence. Either way, the OP has been more than adequately answered, especially since the OP has violated the Prime Directive: Asking a GQ where Cecil himself has already answered. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-and-well-spam/27537/8 "2000-07-31T14:20:03Z")
This thread has made me hungry. I’ll have the Spam, Spam, eggs, and Spam, please. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2000, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-and-well-spam/27537/9 "2000-07-31T14:25:30Z")
jayron, Please re-read my question. I’m not asking where the term originated, or how it came to have it’s current meaning. I am asking how the folks who make SPAM react to the use of term spam. The only part of your post that answers my question is the link in Nurlman’s post. And I already apologized for overlooking it. Jesus.