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

[Barretts Mail]

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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