Why is an unsolicited advertisement called a spam?
I’ll warn you up front that you really have to be a Monty Python fan to understand this. The term “spam” comes from the Monty Python diner sketch where the waitress says “well there’s egg and bacon; egg, sausage and bacon; egg and spam; bacon and spam; egg, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam; spam, spam, spam, egg and spam; spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam; or lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce garnished with truffle pate’, brandy and a fried egg on top of spam.” Meanwhile, in the background, a group of Vikings in the sketch randomly sing the “spam” song (you *really* have to have seen the sketch to understand). Well, when an unsolicited advertisement is sent to a Usenet newsgroup or LISTSERV list, a great many clueless people send their angry replies not to the sender of the advertisement but rather to the newsgroup or list on which the advertisement was originally pos
