[Ads-l] ham (antonym of spam) 2003

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Below is an instance of the phrase "Spam? or Ham? or ?????" within a
Usenet message in January 2001. The larger context suggests that "Ham"
means non-spam in this message. The first message below is a product
endorsement which looks like a spam message. The reply message uses
the target phrase.

During a quick search I found some earlier instances of "spam or ham"
that were within recipes or, to me, were ambiguous.

From: guitar_... at my-deja.com
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic
Subject: hot new Amplifier cover w/pockets to store all your gear
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 08:18:10 GMT

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic/xoPUElTbktc/_GoZt09YaEsJ

[Begin excerpt]
Check out this cool site i found....They offer a custom fit amplifier cover
with pockets on it,, to store all your gear...Where were these guys 10 years
ago..I have misplaced so much stuff....anyway here's the link....
http://www.kanarooampcovers.com ...check it out.......Can't wait to get
mine................Guitar_pickher
[End excerpt]

Below is a response from a person that questions the value of the message above.

From: mkarlo at aol.comspamnyet (MKarlo)
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic
Date: 19 Jan 2001 14:10:17 GMT
Subject: Re: hot new Amplifier cover w/pockets to store all your gear

[Begin excerpt]
Spam? or Ham? or ?????

Anyway, the link did not work.
[End excerpt]

Below is a defense of the message from the original sender of the message.

From: guitar_... at my-deja.com
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic
Subject: Re: hot new Amplifier cover w/pockets to store all your gear
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 15:21:18 GMT

[Begin excerpt]
In article <20010119091017... at ng-cu1.aol.com>,
  mkarlo at aol.comspamnyet (MKarlo) wrote:
> Spam? or Ham? or ?????
>
> Anyway, the link did not work.
>

Yes,, I saw that sorry ,, I'm not trying to spam or ham anyone or thing..This
amp cover is a great useable product for the working musician..and I thought,
This was a discussion group....i'm Just trying to help out all The working
players, make doin a gig, job..a little easier.....The correct link is

http://kangarooampcovers.com
[End excerpt]

Garson


On Fri, Jun 29, 2018 at 1:23 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> Paul McFedries did an entry for "ham" in 2003 with examples from earlier
> that year.
>
> https://wordspy.com/index.php?word=ham
>
> I'm reminded of a 2007 coinage, "bacn" ("email you want but not right now"):
>
> https://wordspy.com/index.php?word=bacn
>
> "Bacn" was nominated that year for ADS WOTY (Most Useful category) and was
> also a runner-up for Oxford WOTY.
>
> https://www.americandialect.org/Word-of-the-Year_2007.pdf
> https://blog.oup.com/2007/11/Locavore/
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 29, 2018 at 12:14 AM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> A graphic for Akismet, the spam-catcher, says “1. Visitors submit comments
>> on your blog…. 3. Akismet tells your blog whether it’s ham or spam."
>>
>> Neither the Oxford Living Dictionaries nor Merriam-Webster (
>> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ham <
>> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ham>) nor Dictionary.com <
>> http://dictionary.com/> (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ham?s=t <
>> http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ham?s=t>) lists this meaning.
>>
>> I found 189 entries for “ham” on Urban Dictionary, and on 30 August 2003,
>> Paul Zurawski defined “ham” as “real email - not spam” (
>> https://bit.ly/2IBy3ZT <https://bit.ly/2IBy3ZT>).
>>
>> Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ham <
>> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ham>) has” (Internet, informal, uncommon)
>> Electronic mail that is wanted; mail that is not spam or junk mail.” and
>> lists “spam” as an acronym. The “uncommon” label notwithstanding, the
>> expression “ham or spam” yields 58K raw Googits.
>>
>> As the Akismet example shows, “ham" is not limited to email but also
>> includes blog comments, and probably any other sort of cybercomment, such
>> as on Facebook.
>>
>> It’s possible that the substitution of ham/SPAM in cooking may have
>> contributed to this expression. The earliest such usage I found is 1999:
>>
>> 1 December 1999
>> "Oral History: Wilmer “Bill” Cox Morris” by the Historical Committee of
>> the Outrigger Canoe Club (https://bit.ly/2lDWc90 <https://bit.ly/2lDWc90>)
>> I got some pressed ham or Spam in a sandwich with onion in it and an apple
>> and a cup of coffee.
>>
>> I have not searched Google Groups or any other such archive.
>>
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org