Why do we call it Spam?

TL;DR

The term 'spam' for unwanted emails comes from a 1970 Monty Python sketch where Vikings drown out conversation by repeatedly singing about the canned meat.

Key Points

• 1.'Spam' email is named after the 1937 canned meat product. The connection isn't about the food itself but about how its name was culturally repurposed through comedy.
• 2.A 1970 Monty Python sketch is the direct origin. In it, a woman can't order breakfast without every item containing Spam, and Vikings singing a repetitive Spam song overwhelm all conversation — symbolizing unwanted, inescapable repetition.
• 3.Monty Python's popularity with early internet nerds spread the term. By the early 1990s, 'spam' was used for unwanted communications, and its meaning evolved to broadly mean repeating something over and over.