Sunday, 26 December 2010

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
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
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'.

3 comments:

  1. Imperialism via meat products .... well I guess in 1945 it was also via stockings, chocolate and the local women's 'negotiable affections' in war ravaged Europe and the UK.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Most of Europe had a little bit of America in it by 1945 LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Including my Granny, if family accounts of her exploits are true!

    ReplyDelete

All comments are welcomed, or even just thanks if you enjoyed the post. But please make any comment relevant to the post it appears under. Off topic comments will be blocked or removed.

Moderation is on for older posts to stop spamming and comments that are off topic or inappropriate from being posted .... comments are reviewed within 48 hours. I don't block normal comments that are on topic and not inappropriate. Vexatious comments that may cause upset to other commentators, or that are attempting to espouse a particular wider political view, are reviewed before acceptance. But a certain amount of debate around a post topic is accepted, as long as it remains generally on topic and is not an attempt to become sounding board for some other cause.

Final decision on all comments is held by the blog author and is final.

Comments are always monitored for bad or abusive language, and or illegal statements i.e. overtly racist or sexist content. Spam is not tolerated and is removed.

Commentaires ne sont surveillés que pour le mauvais ou abusif langue ou déclarations illégales ie contenu ouvertement raciste ou sexiste. Spam ne est pas toléré et est éliminé.