Derrick
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Most netizens know the word spam to mean unsolicited email but Hormel Foods, the maker of SPAM luncheon meats, were not quite so thrilled when the name for their food product was hijacked.
The term ‘spam’ entered the wrld of slang vocabulary following a Monty Python skit.
The skit essentially revolves around the fact that there is spam in everything. Years later when marketers starting flooding Usenet news groups and individual emails with junk mail the term spamming came into being, recounting the repetitive and unwanted presence of Spam in the sketch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(Monty_Python) ).
Hormel Foods, the maker of SPAM luncheon meat, at first didn’t appreciate this use of its trademarked brand name and initially fought it vigorously. The fight however was futile as netizens had caught on to the term making it part of traditional online discourse.
The company has since relented but still insists that ‘SPAM’, in capitals, is the luncheon meat whereas ‘spam’ in lowercase is the nuisance email garbage.
The term ‘spam’ entered the wrld of slang vocabulary following a Monty Python skit.
The skit essentially revolves around the fact that there is spam in everything. Years later when marketers starting flooding Usenet news groups and individual emails with junk mail the term spamming came into being, recounting the repetitive and unwanted presence of Spam in the sketch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(Monty_Python) ).
Hormel Foods, the maker of SPAM luncheon meat, at first didn’t appreciate this use of its trademarked brand name and initially fought it vigorously. The fight however was futile as netizens had caught on to the term making it part of traditional online discourse.
The company has since relented but still insists that ‘SPAM’, in capitals, is the luncheon meat whereas ‘spam’ in lowercase is the nuisance email garbage.