# Why spam? (an etymology question) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036 "2004-02-01T14:19:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/1 "2004-02-01T14:19:39Z")
I’m referrring to the computer kind of spam, not the processed meat product. How did it get to be called that? ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/2 "2004-02-01T14:56:04Z")
My understanding was the Spam e-mail was called Spam because it was in poor taste, unwanted, unappealing, cheezy, cheap, and disgusting, just like the meat product. [http://home.earthlink.net/~javanut99/SPAM!.GIF](http://home.earthlink.net/~javanut99/SPAM!.GIF) ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/3 "2004-02-01T15:03:57Z")
Bloody Vikings! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/4 "2004-02-01T15:44:53Z")
**Cugel** has it. It’s from a Monty Python sketch where Vikings are chanting “Spam, Spam, Spam…” over and over. **ccwaterback** ’s post is a folk _etymology_ and is therefore 100% absolutely dead wrong. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/5 "2004-02-01T17:12:46Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > **ccwaterback** ’s post is a folk _etymology_ and is therefore 100% absolutely dead wrong. No, it’s an urban legend, or a sarcastic comment, but it’s not folk etymology, which is when a word changes to match a popular usage. “Turtle” is an example of a folk etymology (it originally was “tortue,” but changed to match the bird “turtle,” which later had “dove” added to its name to differentiate), as is “woodchuck” (originally “wachuck,” spelled various ways)and “salt cellar” (originally “saliere”; “salt” was added to differentiate). ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/6 "2004-02-01T17:14:15Z")
I’ve just finished with reading The Triumph of the Straight Dope. In it, the Master says: > [@](#): > > 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. Here’s the online version: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_229.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_229.html) ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/7 "2004-02-01T17:23:22Z")
As my dad (who was a kid during the government-enforced rationing days of WWII) always says whenever anyone disparages **SPAM** TM, “We were damn glad to have some MEAT.” :eek: I’ve noticed he never eats the stuff, ever, these days, though. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/8 "2004-02-01T17:24:06Z")
**RealityChuck** : According to [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk\_etymology]Wikipedia\*\*, my usage is 100% correct. Note that Wikipedia gives your meaning as an _effect_ of folk etymology. (But it does appear that there is micro-dispute over the meaning of the term.) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/9 "2004-02-01T17:33:24Z")
[Fixed link.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_etymology) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/10 "2004-02-01T18:13:00Z")
This site has a lot more detail than cecil’s brief explanation: [http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html](http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html) > [@](#): > > The term got really popular in April of 1994, when two lawyers from Phoenix named Canter and Siegel posted a message advertising their fairly useless services in an upcoming U.S. “green card” lottery. They had posted their message a few times before, but on April 12, they hired an mercenary programmer to write a simple script to post their ad to every single newsgroup (message board) on USENET, the world’s largest online conferencing system. There were several thousand such newsgroups, and each one got the ad. > > Quickly people called it a “spam” and the word caught on. Future multiple postings soon got the appelation. Some people also applied it to individual unwanted ads that weren’t posted again and again, though generally it was associated with the massive flood of the same message. It turns out, however, that the term had been in use for some time before the famous green card flood. The article goes on to say that the term probably goes back to the MUDs of the early 80’s but that it really isn’t completely tracable then. The above article also has a reference to the first ever email spam, from 1978: [http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamreact.html](http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamreact.html) ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/11 "2004-02-01T22:22:41Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > **ccwaterback** ’s post is a folk _etymology_ and is therefore 100% absolutely dead wrong. Man if that doesn’t smack of a Snopes “definitive answer” to the question. ---
**Author:** ![Mariemarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@Mariemarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mariemarie)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/12 "2004-02-01T22:32:00Z")
I have a vague recollection that it has something to do with the spam hitting the fan: it flies all over the place, hitting everything, whether it’s a good target or not. It’s very unpleasant to be hit with bits of spam, unless you are really hungry. Alas, I have no cite. ---
**Author:** ![Quint\_Essence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/54ee81/32.png) [@Quint\_Essence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint_Essence)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/13 "2004-02-02T04:18:48Z")
I was told once that it was from the acronym. S.P.A.M.=Self-Promoting Ad Mail and referred to mass mailings through the post office before the internet became popular. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/14 "2004-02-02T06:19:08Z")
> [@Quint Essence](#): > > I was told once that it was from the acronym. S.P.A.M.=Self-Promoting Ad Mail and referred to mass mailings through the post office before the internet became popular. This sounds suspiciously like another one of the faux acronyms created after the fact to supposedly explain word origins. Others include [C.O.P.](http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-cop2.htm), [T.I.P.](http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/tip.htm), [F.U.C.K.](http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/fuck.htm), [S.H.I.T.](http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/shit.asp), etc. All are false etymologies. SPAM is easy. It came from combining the words “spiced ham.” The popularity of the Monty Python sketch amongst computer nerds led to its use for unwanted e-mail. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/15 "2004-02-02T06:39:06Z")
Back in the stone ages when there were very few people actually using e-mail (remember the addresses with a ! (bang)?), there seemed to be much more communication going on via newsgroups (not web forums like SDMB, but internet newsgroups). I worked with a sys admin that monitored a newsgroup. He always complained of the spammers attacking his newsgroup. When I asked what spam was, it was explained to me that spam was any annoying, worthless crap, just like the meat. In the next few years, e-mail became popular, the bangs went away, and spam found a new home. Apparently the Monty Python spam sketch has become a more popular, PC way of explaining the spam phenomenon. Although, the internet newsgroup spam I encountered pre-dates the Montey Python sketch. [http://www.ironworks.com/comedy/python/spam.htm](http://www.ironworks.com/comedy/python/spam.htm) [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000WG8/002-3916080-8804814?v=glance](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000WG8/002-3916080-8804814?v=glance) ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/16 "2004-02-02T06:46:42Z")
IIRC, the first instance of spam is the Siegel attack. It was quickly countered by the now legendary “cancelmoose.” ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/17 "2004-02-02T07:11:34Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > …they hired an mercenary programmer to write a simple script to post their ad to every single newsgroup (message board) on USENET, the world’s largest online conferencing system. There were several thousand such newsgroups, and each one got the ad. I heard that in SPAM in this case was an acronym for **Single Post Across Multiple (groups)** ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/18 "2004-02-02T07:13:19Z")
> [@ccwaterback](#): > > Apparently the Monty Python spam sketch has become a more popular, PC way of explaining the spam phenomenon. Although, the internet newsgroup spam I encountered pre-dates the Montey Python sketch. Better do your research a little better. The Spam sketch appeared on the Monty Python episode first broadcast on December 15, 1970. It appeared on American TV (PBS) in 1975-76. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/19 "2004-02-02T07:20:46Z")
> [@ccwaterback](#): > > …Apparently the Monty Python spam sketch has become a more popular, PC way of explaining the spam phenomenon. Although, the internet newsgroup spam I encountered pre-dates the Montey Python sketch. The Monty Python spam sketch first aired on [December 15, 1970](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(Monty_Python)). Unless your newsgroup used punched cards, the Monty Python sketch came first. (BTW, _Monty Python’s The Final Ripoff_ was a greatest hit collection of their material, not the original release.) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036/20 "2004-02-02T07:22:05Z")
I remember seeing it used waaay back in the chat rooms of AOL 1.0 or 2.0, back when I was on a 2400 baud modem. It started off simply…whenever the chat died down for a minute or two, someone would start quoting the Monty Python spam sketch, presumably because the inanity of “spam spam spam spam spam” was a comment on how boring the silence was. Everyone would join in for a few minutes, and that would usually jumpstart the chat room back into action. Soon, though, jerks would start doing it right in the middle of the conversation, and they’d hit enter after every “spam” so as to, well, spam the room, and no one else could talk. Pretty soon, AOL made a rule against spamming in this way, and you’d automatically get kicked out of the room if you tried it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-spam-an-etymology-question/227036.md?page=2)