Date:  Wed, 13 Sep 1995 00:25:26 -0700

From:  Anton Sherwood <dasher[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]NETCOM.COM>

Subject: Re: Internet Term Stumper



> I hope I don't get spammed for this, but does anyone know how the

> term 'spamming' got coined for mass e-mailing?



An explanation that I find plausible cites a Monty Python skit

set in a coffee-shop where every item on the menu contains Spam.

"Egg and Spam; egg, bacon and Spam; egg, bacon, sausage and Spam;

Spam, egg, sausage and Spam; egg, bacon, Spam and sausage; ..."



As the waitress recites the menu, a group of Vikings, sitting at a table

in the background, chant: "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, lovely Spam, wonderful

Spam...." increasing in volume until they drown out the waitress.



The aptness of the allusion is enhanced by the image of Spam hitting a fan.



*\\* Anton                       Ubi scriptum?