[Ads-l] Antedatings and Etymological Speculation Concerning "Spam" (Computing)

Sat Oct 5 16:52:00 UTC 2019

Here are the two posts in question from comp.sys.amiga in 1987 (the second
is in response to the first):

-----
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.sys.amiga/eAugoelmZVs/OOtAZYMLOkUJ
[Kevin McBride, 10/22/87]
This article contains a *little* bit of Spam. :-)
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.sys.amiga/eAugoelmZVs/88kmXASDBggJ
[Dave Haynie, 10/23/87]
Dirty Vikings!
-----

In the same newsgroup, "Spam Content" was used as a humorous header/warning
on posts, e.g.:

-----
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.sys.amiga/CvrIz7aaoGk/tMaBKVvyup0J
[Ethan R. Dicks, 11/30/87]
Spam Content: very little
[come and get me....]
-----
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.sys.amiga/Ed5yTkJn4Q0/xyKDLYyfxs0J
[Dave Haynie, 9/1/88]
Spam-Content: Negligible
-----
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.sys.amiga/tUFeH6uTxGA/_cibDISTKRcJ
[Bryan Bayerdorffer, 11/3/88]
In article <17... at ames.arc.nasa.gov> mike at ames.arc.nasa.gov.UUCP (Mike
Smithwick) writes:
=-In article <610 at cord.UUCP> nsw at cord.UUCP (Neil Weinstock) writes:
=-<
=-<**WARNING:  MAJOR SPAM CONTENT FOLLOWS.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK**
=-
=-[spurious spam deleted]
=-
Listen, people, I'll have you know that Spam(R) is a registered service
mark of SD&RS*, Austin, TX.  You agreed to pay us a royalty for every use
of the word Spam(R) when you tore the shrink-wrap off the little can, but
so far we haven't seen a penny.  So let's start forking it over shall we?
-----

--bgz

On Sat, Oct 5, 2019 at 12:09 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I wasn’t able to find it either, but see also p. 77 of the MA thesis
> “Trufax about Discussion Group Netspeak: An Historical Analysis of Semantic
> Change in the English Slang of Newsgroups and Web Forums” (
> https://tinyurl.com/yy92lh8b <https://tinyurl.com/yy92lh8b>) by Stephen
> Turton. He discusses the citation in the section on spam.
>
> Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>
> > On 5 Oct 2019, at 05:26, Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET> wrote:
> >
> > This is the earliest example of "spam" clearly used in the sense of an
> > unwanted commercial plug that I have found. From a post to the Usenet
> group
> > comp.sys.amiga on 23 October 1987:
> >
> > "This article contains a *little* bit of Spam. :-) Dirty Vikings!"
> >
> > The comment about Vikings ties it back to the Python sketch.
> >
> > (I no longer have the full citation to the Usenet post and thread, and
> since
> > Google bollixed up the Usenet archives, finding it anew is challenging.)
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
> > Shapiro, Fred
> > Sent: Saturday, October 5, 2019 8:02 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Antedatings and Etymological Speculation Concerning
> > "Spam" (Computing)
> >
> > Boy, I guess I don't have to do research any more, I just have to pose a
> > question and people like Peter Reitan, Garson O'Toole, Ben Zimmer, Alan
> > Knutson, and Larry Horn will post fantastic answers.  Thanks to all who
> > responded.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Peter
> > Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > Sent: Friday, October 4, 2019 10:36 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: Antedatings and Etymological Speculation Concerning "Spam"
> > (Computing)
> >
> > Anyone who actually eats SPAM knows it is more-or-less solid, doesn't
> > splatter.
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Sent: Friday, October 4, 2019 7:05:16 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: Antedatings and Etymological Speculation Concerning "Spam"
> > (Computing)
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Antedatings and Etymological Speculation Concerning
> "Spam"
> >              (Computing)
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---
> >
> >> On Oct 4, 2019, at 9:32 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> =
> > wrote:
> >> =20
> >> Here are some minor antedatings of the OED's first uses of "spam" =
> > (computing) and "spammer":
> >> =20
> >> spam, v. (OED 1994 [25 July])  1994 _Manhattan_ (Kan.) _Mercury_ 8 May
> >> =
> > 52/4 (Newspapers.com)  The cost to spam an advertisement in thousands of
> =
> > news groups, where it is potentially read by hundreds of thousands of =
> > computer users, is typically less than $50.
> >> =20
> >> spammer (OED 1994 [25 July])  1994 _San Francisco Examiner_ 25 May =
> > 32/1 (Newspapers.com)  Some Netheads responded to the lawyers' ad =
> barrage
> > with guerilla tactics, "flaming" the spammers.
> >> =20
> >> The etymology of this use of the word "spam" is almost universally =
> > said to derive from a Monty Python skit in which the food-name "Spam" is
> =
> > repeated incessantly.  Am I the only one who questions this derivation?
> =
> > To me the semantic link between mass promulgation of advertisements and =
> > massive repetition of a word. although plausible, is somewhat weak.  The
> =
> > South Bend Tribune, 12 May 1994, said that "Among network veterans, such
> =
> > random posting is called 'spamming' -- a term derived from a brand of =
> > pink, canned meat that splatters messily when hurled."  The OED's first =
> > citation for the verb "spam," dated 25 July 1994, says the term was =
> "meant
> > to evoke the effect of dropping a can of Spam into a fan filling = the
> > surrounding space with meat" (this brings to mind the idiom "the = shit
> hits
> > the fan").  In neither of these two articles is there any = mention of
> Monty
> > Python.  I suggest that "Spam splattering messily when = hurled" may be a
> > more likely etymological explanation of the computing = meaning of "spam"
> > than the Python skit.
> >> =20
> >> Fred Shapiro
> >> =20
> >
> > Plausible enough. If that=E2=80=99s right, Monty Python would have been =
> > played the role in the Spam Chronicles that Martin (=E2=80=9COld =
> > Kinderhook=E2=80=9D) Van Buren and the =E2=80=9CO.K. club=E2=80=9D =
> played
> > in the trajectory of =E2=80=9CO.K.=E2=80=9D after the latter was =
> initiated
> > by the newspapers as detailed in A. W. Read=E2=80=99s = chronology. =20
> >
> > LH
>
>

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