Spam etymology

Until the mid-1990s, Spam was nothing more than a canned meat product. Today, spam is the derisive term for the unwanted e-mails that are the bane of Internet users.

So how did the word evolve from the trademarked name of a perfectly legitimate, if sometimes ridiculed, loaf of spiced ham and other pork components to its present, quite different usage?

Dr. Dale Haskell, an English professor at Southeast Missouri State University, was uncertain as to exactly how the word developed but willing to make an educated guess.

The perception that Spam is a product composed of the parts left over after other food is made could have been the origin of the linguistic evolution, Haskell said.

"Spam is considered to be a near-food product and not the real stuff," Haskell said. "In the modern context, spam is mail that isn't real mail.

"It's a funny-sounding word. Spam? Who would want that?"

Haskell said the change in usage is a recent phenomenon dating only to around 1995. And whereas it used to be solely a noun, today it is also verb. To send someone junk e-mail is to "spam" them.

"It just shows the playfulness people have with language," Haskell said.

--Southeast Missourian