What is "spam"

n. (context uncountable computing Internet English) A collection of unsolicited bulk electronic messages. vb. 1 (context intransitive computing Internet English) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages.) 2 (context transitive computing Internet English) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages) to a person or entity. 3 (context transitive by extension video games English) To relentlessly attack an enemy with (a spell or ability). 4 (context transitive intransitive computing Internet English) To post the same text repeatedly with disruptive effect; to flood.

"Spam" is a Monty Python sketch, first televised in 1970. In the sketch, two customers are lowered into a greasy spoon café by wires and try to order a breakfast from a menu that includes Spam in almost every dish. The sketch was written by Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

It features Terry Jones as the Waitress, Eric Idle as Mr. Bun and Graham Chapman as Mrs. Bun. The televised sketch also featured John Cleese as The Hungarian and Michael Palin as a historian, but this part was left out of audio recordings of the sketch.

The term spam in the context of electronic communications is derived from this sketch.

Spam or SPAM commonly refers to:

• Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages
  • Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages
  • Messaging spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal messages in general (private messages on websites, sms, messenger etc...)
• Spam (food), a canned pork meat product

Spam or SPAM may also refer to:

Spam (stylized SPAM) is a brand of canned precooked meat made by Hormel Foods Corporation. It was first introduced in 1937 and gained popularity worldwide after its use during World War II. By 2003, Spam was sold in 41 countries on six continents and trademarked in over 100 countries. In 2007, the seven billionth can of Spam was sold.

According to its label, Spam's basic ingredients are pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, sugar, and sodium nitrite as a preservative. Natural gelatin forms during cooking in its tins on the production line. Many have raised concerns over Spam's nutritional attributes, in large part due to its high content of fat, sodium, and preservatives.

By the early 1970s the name "Spam" was often misused to describe any canned meat product containing pork, such as pork luncheon meat. With expansion in communications technology, it became the subject of urban legends about mystery meat and other appearances in pop culture. Most notable was a Monty Python sketch portraying Spam as tasting horrible, ubiquitous and inescapable, characteristics which led to its name being borrowed for unsolicited electronic messages, especially spam email.

Spamming, in the context of video games, refers to the repeated use of the same item or action. For example, "grenade spamming" is the act of a player throwing a large number of grenades in succession into an area. In fighting games, one form of spamming would be to execute the same offensive maneuver so many times in succession that one's opponent does not receive a chance to escape the series of blows. In which a tournament that player will be disqualified, without re-entry.