Welcome to another A Way with Words newsletter!
With any luck, our A Way with Words email messages don’t end up in your spam folder. But did you ever wonder why junk mail is called spam in the first place?
There’s a funny story behind this term, and it goes back to a sketch from that madcap British comedy show from 1970 called Monty Python’s Flying Circus. A couple in a breakfast cafe asks what’s on offer.
“Well, there’s egg and bacon. Egg, sausage, and bacon. Egg and Spam. Egg, bacon, and Spam. Egg, bacon, sausage, and Spam. Spam, bacon, sausage, and Spam. Spam, egg, Spam, Spam, bacon, and Spam—”
At which point, some Vikings who also happen to be in the cafe break into a loud, lusty song about the wonders of Spam. Meanwhile, the server continues reciting more combinations of Spam and breakfast foods, concluding with “or Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce, garnished with truffle pâté, brandy, and a fried egg on top, and Spam.”
The three-and-a-half-minute sketch, which featured 132 mentions of Spam, proved to be a big hit.
Soon, early computer users were applying the word spam to online actions that were similarly repetitive and annoying, such as flooding a computer database or sending unwanted mass emails.
Many of those early adopters were Python fans. (The Python programming language, in fact, is named after the show and even includes spam and eggs as generic placeholder names.)
As for the name of the canned meat itself, some speculate that it’s a mashup of spiced ham or shoulder of pork and ham.
However, the Hormel Foods company, which began producing Spam in the 1930s, is cagey about the whole thing, insisting on their site that “the real answer is known by only a small circle of former Hormel Foods executives. And probably Nostradamus.”
Sounds like they’d rather not think about it, much less how their product’s name inspired the word for all those annoying emails.
Heading Your Way?
Our A Way with Words fall travel calendar is already filling up with appearances in Wisconsin, Vermont, and Kentucky, plus a few others in the works. Stay tuned for more!
In San Diego, California, on Thursday, August 7, you’re invited to join Martha at Warwick’s Bookstore, where she’ll be speaking and signing copies of her new book Friends with Words: Adventures in Languageland. Do stick around and say hello!
Also, we’ll both be appearing on Saturday, August 23, at the KPBS Book Festival on the University of San Diego campus.
As always, we’re immensely grateful for your support in helping us to produce more shows and share the joy of language with more listeners. We can’t do this without you, so please make your gift today!
Until next time, our love and thanks,
Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, co-hosts and co-producers Stefanie Levine, senior producer A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language
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