Spam
Etymology
From a 1970 Monty Python sketch in which a café menu offers Spam with everything, and a chorus of Vikings drowns out all conversation by chanting "Spam, Spam, Spam." Early internet users adopted the word for messages that similarly repeat and drown out real discussion.
The meat itself is a 1937 Hormel trademark, probably from "spiced ham." Hormel eventually made peace with the digital meaning while defending its trademark for the meat.
noun · /SPAM/
Unsolicited bulk messages, usually advertising, sent indiscriminately to huge numbers of people.
What it names
The background noise of digital life — the low-cost flood that clogs inboxes precisely because sending more costs almost nothing.
Example
A spam filter now quietly diverts hundreds of junk emails he never sees.
Related idea
Spam is unwanted bulk noise, whereas phishing is spam with a predatory aim — designed not merely to sell but to trick you into surrendering passwords or money.
noun (proper) · /SPAM/
A brand of canned pork luncheon meat.
What it names
the tinned food.
Example
They fried slices of Spam for breakfast.
Related idea
The junk-mail sense grew out of this product.