Spam, Spam, Spam ... Eggs, And Spam

Spam, Spam, Spam ..... the bane of the email users life, is a common enough problem for most of us that we usually think of this context when the word comes up ...

Spam Cans

.... but of course originally it was the commercial name of a salted pork meat product.

 

Spam the product was already popular in the United States in the 1930s - one of the first radio jingles in the world (1937) was in fact, a kind of ode to Spam set to the tune of 'My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean' .... but during the Second World War Spam became international as US soldiers took it (and often exchanged it for ladies negotiable affections), around the world.

Now of course, although its influence in Europe is somewhat lessened, it still is bought and consumed everywhere from the Philippines to Vladivostok ..... there is even a Museum of Spam. Its funny to think that 'US imperialism' may ultimately have been built on salted meat products ....

Monty Python Spam Sketch

Of course while fighting in the Muslim world, its not much use as a nation-building tool in America's modern wars in (pork, remember), but these are tough times in America, and apparently domestic sales are going rather well.

Spam trivia

• The US supplied huge amounts of Spam to the USSR in WWII
• Its original name was Hormel Spiced Ham - the name Spam was chosen in a competition.
• Production in the UK (in Liverpool) ceased in 1998.
• Hormel Foods sued Jim Henson in 1995, after an "evil" boar called Spa'am featured in a Muppet's movie.
• A web archive of haiku about spam (or "spam-ku") contains 19,000 poems about the ubiquitous spam.
• The term 'Spam' for unsolicited email come from the Monty Python comedy sketch, where every meal comes with unwanted 'Spam'.