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...
Why is that annoying stuff in your email box called spam? Grant has the answer. Here’s the Monty Python skit that inspired it. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Email Spam” I heard from Vicki in Madison, Wisconsin, who wrote, My...
darkhead n.— «Each researcher has what they call “technicians” which are spirits that normally come though for that researcher and give information as well as try to connect the researcher with others they are wishing to speak to. The technicians...
fuzzer n.— «My 7 line python fuzzer found several file format bugs in 3 hours. Quite alarming. No deep analysis was done, I leave that to the community.» —“Some 0day Pocs” by Mati Aharoni Full-disclosure Mailing List Apr. 9, 2007. (source: Double...
handbags at ten paces n. a verbal spat, usually between athletes on the field of play. Editorial Note: Probably related to any number of Monty Python sketches which have the actors dressed in drag, battling each other with handbags, such as in...

