Acronym-etymologies

[ANNE V. GILBERT]

Sagehen:

> Is spam SPAM?  In other words, is it merely a reference to its
> disagreeableness, or is it an  acronym (Something-or-other Advertising
> Message)?

I'm not sure whether you're referring to the canned meat that's still being
sold in grocery stores and used to be imported all over the place in WW II
or the crap that appears in people-s e-mail boxes .  In the former case, I
think Hormel or somebody came up with "spam" because it was fake "ham"(or
soemthing like this).  In the latter case, it's an acronym for
"self-propelled advertising mechanism", which is exactly what e-mail spam
is.  E-mail spam, of course, is unpleasant, and by analogy it's at least as
unpleasant as the canned stuff of WW II fame.
Anne G



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