In the era of prevalent fraud, the term spam has become synonymous with persistent telemarketers calling, massive amount of emails from companies you shopped at once, and advertisements filling up your mailbox. But how did that come to be?

Etymology

The term spam was first introduced through SPAM, the square can of pork invented during the Great Depression in 1937.¹ The company states that the name was the winning entry in a naming contest, as a result of combing the words "SPiced hAM" .² Considering SPAM is largely made with pork and no spices, many were left confused and speculated about other less appealing expansions such as Shoulder of Pork and hAM or alternatively, Special Processed American Meat. Sales sky rocketed during World War II as American and Allied soldiers were fed this filling meat that was able to survive on the shelves for weeks. SPAM was celebrated! However, after eating it for three meals a day for an extended period of time, the thousands of soldiers that returned back to the US after the war refused to eat it.
SPAM was still a culturally relevant name American households when a hit television series Monty Python's Flying Circus aired the Spam sketch in 1970 on BBC. The sketch featured a cafe in which every option on the menu, except one included SPAM. As the diner patron exclaims his distaste for the canned meat, a group of Vikings in the diner burst into a song with the word Spam repeatedly. Although a short sketch, the term SPAM is mentioned 132 times.³
The first use of spam as we now know it began in the 1980s in chat rooms such as AOL, previously known as Online America. In order to drive out new members or aggravate opposing interest groups, (ex Star Wars vs Star Trek) users would intentionally spam the chat sessions with a ton of text. As messages appear chronologically, this would move the unwanted messages off the screen view. Users would either repeatedly use the term SPAM or even entire lyrics from the song in the Monty Python sketch.⁴

So now you know! If you want to learn more about the wonderful world of telecommunications check out our knowledge base articles and our latest blog articles.

References

^{1 https://time.com/4827451/spam-history-80th-anniversary/
2 https://www.eater.com/2014/7/9/6191681/a-brief-history-of-spam-an-american-meat-icon
3 https://montypython.fandom.com/wiki/Spam
4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLih-WQwBSc&ab_channel=BusinessInsider}