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

[Dave Wilton]

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
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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)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---

> 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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