Definition of spam

The origin of the word "spam" in reference to unwanted or junk messages dates back to the 1980s. The term is believed to have originated from a Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch in 1970, called "Spam," which featured a group of Vikings singing a song with the refrain "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam." The scene was filled with repetitive mentions of the canned meat product, and the word became a punchline. In the early 1980s, a computer user named Debian developer Rich Skrenta created a program that sent out unsolicited emails with the subject "Spam." This was done as an experiment to test email sending capabilities, but the term stuck. Over time, the phrase "spam" became synonymous with unwanted messages, including emails, text messages, and other digital communications. The term has since been adopted globally and is widely used to describe any unwanted or repetitive content.