Spams

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. To indiscriminately send unsolicited messages, often in bulk, typically via digital channels
2. to inundate someone with excessive and unwanted communication
3. to engage in repetitive or excessive posting that clutters or annoys recipients

Etymology: The plural "spams" simply follows the noun and verb "spam", so the story is really about that word. The canned meat came first. Geo. A. Hormel & Co. registered "SPAM" as a trademark in the United States in 1937, probably blending "spiced ham" or "shoulder of pork and ham", and the name soon spread to other tinned meats. The internet sense has a different source entirely. A 1970 Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch, broadcast by the BBC, shows Vikings in a restaurant chanting "spam" over and over until it drowns out the other customers' conversation. That repetitive, unwanted noise became the model for unsolicited messages flooding a system. The earliest recorded real-life use of the word in this sense dates to a newsgroup post from March 31, 1993, though it may have been circulating on Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) during the 1980s.

Synonyms: junk mail, unsolicited messages