Growing up, I remember one of my parent's favorite meals was eggs, toast and Spam. For those who don't know, Spam is a processed meat that is stuffed into a metal can and if not mistaken, the can is opened by a key cleverly attached to the bottom of the package. I can still see the chunk of a 'pink something', meat I hoped, encased in a gelatin-like wrap, as it literally "plopped" out of the can and occasionally sliding to the floor..
My mother would cut the already cooked meat into small strips and place them in a frying pan and within minutes the kitchen would be filled with smoke and the smell of Spam as it sizzled on the stove. Within another minute or two, the toast would pop up in the toaster and... dinner was served..
Now, my email account on the computer has a spam filter and it is designed to capture those messages I do not want to receive because of the nature of the subject matter or what- ever. This is done by selecting a security setting in my mailbox. But I began to wonder if the 'spam' in my emails got its name from Spam, the packaged meat. Both appear to have some similar qualities.
When all else fails and I have a question, I usually do a Google search and there, at the top of the search results list was....Spam... the meat!.
Spam is short for spiced ham and dates back to 1937. This year, Spam is 75 years old and I will bet there are still some packages on store shelves somewhere or in a home pantry dating back to 1937. The 'stuff' lasts forever!!
Over the years Spam became the 'butt' of many jokes, stories and folklore. Even to this day, it can not shake the tag line of “mystery meat”. Ask any school- aged kid.
In 2007, the seven billionth can of Spam was sold. Of that number, I may have purchased five or six cans, that's all. I must say it has never been one of my favorite meals, probably because I was not exactly sure what I was eating.
Today there is a new definition of spam that does not date back very far, more like the 1990's maybe. Today's 'spam' consists of those nasty and harassing messages that often sneak their way into the computer and emails. Generally the spam of today is used as an advertising tool. It called a 'electronic' spam!
Spamming has become quite popular by advertisers because it is easy and costs very little to send out thousands of messages to unsuspecting recipients. Just in 2011 alone there were over seven trillion spam messages sent and sometimes it feels like many of them end up in my email spam folder.Case in point...
In less than an 8 hour time period this past Wednesday, 10 messages appeared in my spam folder, ranging from offers to grant me a loan in less that one hour for up to ten thousand dollars, to promotionals from two different satellite television companies, to getting a college in just a few weeks. Must be quite a degree!
There were products that would increase certain body part sizes, longer, harder...you get the picture, ( Big Willy is my favorite.), to offers from drug companies with specials that would have made me more romantic on Valentines Day.
I was selected to receive a free, alternative account to Facebook, the name of which I will not repeat, but you may be able to guess .
And then there was one that with just a click of the mouse, a $2000. pure-approved deposit would be placed in my bank account by the end of that very day. How do they know which bank I use??? Right!!
So...there does appear to be a connection between the 'Spam in a can' and the spam in my email folder, and I think we have Monty Python. to thank for that. An unfortunate result for the Hormel Foods? Maybe not. So much for the impact and influence of pop culture.
At this point I thought about “hamming it up a bit,” but I will spare you all the agony of a bad joke or two. But to make sure I don't get an unexpected package from 'Big Willy' (that would be a really bad joke) , I had better delete everything in my spam folder and I'll do it right now! (click/delete)
And I am just thinking out loud here.....It has been many years since I have tasted the morsels of real Spam. I may just buy a can and see if it is as bad as I remember !!
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