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

[Peter Reitan]

Anyone who actually eats SPAM knows it is more-or-less solid, doesn't splatter.
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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)

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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)
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> 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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