On Thu, 06 Feb 2003 20:28:01 -0500, Samuel W. Heywood wrote: > On Wed, 5 Feb 2003 01:06:47 -0500 (EST), Thomas Mueller wrote:
>> I never heard of "ham" referring to legit email, as opposed to spam. In the >> realm of meat, I think Spam is a form of ham? > Spam is an acronymned trademark which stands for "spiced ham". Not exactly. "Spam" is a made up trademark name for a pork meat product. Although it echoes "spiced ham" it's not an acronymn, just as it's not made of ham alone, but of other, cheaper cuts of pork ground up and formed into a loaf with fat and lots of salt. Hormel, the maker of SPAM calls it "canned luncheon meat" and claims that it's a "ham product". Many people refuse to eat it and call it "mystery meat in a can." Like unsolicited email it gets no respect, just lots of sucess. Hormel has sold over five billion cans of the stuff since 1937. Nikita Kruschev credited SPAM with helping the Red Army survive WWII. Some people enjoy it. My father, who grew up poor during the depresion, thinks it a delicacy. It's not bad fried. The official SPAM website is http://www.spam.com Hormel maintains a sense of humour about SPAM. (I suppose they are laughing all the way to the bank) According to Hormel the slang use of spam as the term for unsolicited email comes from a Monty Python skit where a bunch of Vikings chanting "Spam, spam, spam, spam" block out all other attempts at communication. Sam Ewalt Croswell, Michigan, USA -- Arachne V1.70;rev.3, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://arachne.cz/
