You have received unwanted messages in your email inbox. Whether at work, or at home, dozens, if not hundreds have arrived this week alone. If not in your email, then your phone’s text messages, or WhatsApp, Snapchat, Telegram, or Facebook Messenger. Spam might even have appeared on Twitter or Instagram, or flooded a subreddit.

It’s hard to get away from.

But what is spam, what type of message can be declared spam, and how does the term “spam” have its origins in a 50-year-old comedy sketch?

What Is Spam?

Until the mid-1990s, “spam” was universally known as tinned meat. Introduced in 1937, it was sold in 41 countries at its peak (as recently as 2003) and is curiously popular in Hawaii.

Of course, when you think of spam, you’re not thinking of canned meat. Your thoughts instead turn to unwanted emails. Spam can be defined as any unwanted or unsolicited email message. The meaning can be extended to cover SMS and other messaging platforms, from Skype and WhatsApp to Telegram and even Discord. Pop-ups might also be considered spam.

Unwanted messages might be promotional or personal, and can be both unsettling and hide malware. In short, no one wants spam.

(Certainly not the electronic kind.)

What Is the Origin of Spam as a Technical Term?

While the term has become popular since the mid-1990s, its use concerning electronic messaging actually predates this by at least a decade. The website Day In Tech History claims the first use of spam as a technical term occurred March 31st, 1993:

There is a bug in the Automated Retroactive Minimal Moderation (ARMM) program on a Usenet. It ends out sending 200 copies of a message to news.admin.policy. Joel Furr, a user of the newsgroup, says this is “Spam”. Hence, the term “Spam” is coined.

However, this explanation is imprecise, and easily challenged. Previous examples of the term occur in relation to BBSs (Bulletin Boards, the precursor to Usenet, and later web forums), where some users would enter or paste text repeated to push other’s messages off-screen.

Text might even have been quotes from the Monty Python’s Flying Circus TV series and movies. Why?

Well, in one particular sketch, there is a lot of spam:

Whatever the date of the term’s first coinage to mean unsolicited electronic communications, everyone agrees that it was inspired by Vikings singing in a greasy spoon café.

How to Recognize Different Types of Spam

Edible Spam is pretty versatile, but has a unique taste and always comes in a can. Electronic spam is a little trickier to spot.

Various types of spam can arrive in your inbox at any time, without warning.

You will find spam in:

  • Email
  • Text messages
  • Online messenger messages (WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
  • Unwanted phone calls (e.g. the Windows Tech Support scam)
  • Unwanted adverts
  • Website pop-ups, pop-unders etc.

But unwanted, repeated messages wouldn’t be so bad if they were safe. Unfortunately, that is invariably not the case. Spam can be fraudulent (e.g. “Nigerian Prince” scams or any email asking you to hold some money), promotional, or packing viruses. Perhaps the most dangerous at this time is the phishing or whale-phishing email. This unsolicited communication aims to steal account information from you, enabling unauthorized access to accounts.

PayPal scam email

Whether the spam message is from a scammer or a legitimate business, it is invariably intended to make money for the sender.

How to Prevent Spam Messages

Spam can be prevented. First, you need to know how to spot spam.

The first thing to look for is anything you’re not expecting. Whether pop-ups or emails, messages or phone calls, there is a potential for anything to be spam. In short, you need to always be on the lookout.

Telephone spam can be identified as a scam almost right away. If the caller claims to be able to help you, doesn’t know your name, and represents a business you don’t have dealings with, they have suspect motives.

Email scam message

For email, messaging, and pop-ups, look for:

  • Odd email addresses
  • Poor grammar
  • Bad spelling
  • Untidy formatting
  • Requests for personal information

Once you recognize spam email messages, it’s easier to stop them. But you’re probably a bit concerned by the size of the task. You could go through your inbox, bulk deleting messages from the same sender or senders, but this quickly gets tiresome. This is where spam blocking tools are worthwhile. Our guide to blocking emails on Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook should prove useful here.

Meanwhile, avoid suspicious websites, don’t sign up to anything with your email address, and don’t share personal information online.

Can Reporting Spam Help?

Statista reports that in 2022, 48.63% of email messages were spam.

Reporting all spam messages is a massive task, even for a single user. Like bulk deletion, reporting many messages can take up a lot of time. As such, if you intend to report, target messages that look particularly insidious.

If you’re particularly concerned about marketing spam, the emails should have an unsubscribe option. For more suspicious messages, the US Department of Justice has a page of links you can use (in the UK, use the Information Commissioner’s Office). You can also report spam text messages.

Alternatively, use spam.org’s reporting tool.

Spam: It’s Older Than You Think

It is incredible that we named unsolicited messages after a tinned meat product celebrated in a 1970 comedy sketch. Yet its comical name should not be taken lightly.

Spam messages are a threat. Whether directly, or indirectly, the senders want something from you. The message might be part of a con, it might be for a mailing list you didn’t sign up to. Spam messages can also carry malware. Spam is a massive drain on people’s time and energy. It also has its own carbon footprint.

It’s vital that you understand how to recognize spam, and dispose of it when you spot it. With practice, you can often spot spam, but installing anti-spam software and managing a whitelist of approved senders is a good way to deal with it.