The digital world has become such a ubiquitous part of modern life that many of us have never stopped to wonder why certain features, applications, or devices are named the way they are. But that’s a shame, because many of these stories are surprisingly interesting.
The word “digital” itself comes from the Latin “digitus,” meaning finger. The explanation behind this term lies not with touchscreens—its technological connotations emerged as early as the 1930s, long before the debut of the iPhone—but with the body part’s pre-mechanical role in counting and calculation.
Other naming conventions have more circumstantial origins. The reason we talk of “surfing” the web is because one of the first people to write about internet use—librarian Jean Armour Polly—was looking for a striking metaphor when her eyes landed on her mouse pad, which featured an image of a surfer riding a big wave.
The Origins of the Word “Spam” on the Internet
Then there’s “spam.” One would think that this name has something to do with SPAM, the canned spiced ham first manufactured by Hormel Foods in the 1930s and traveled across the world alongside American soldiers during and after the Second World War, becoming an unlikely staple of several Asian cuisines.
However, this is not the case—at least, not exactly. In truth, the digital meaning of spam doesn’t come from the meat product, but a 1970 Monty Python’s Flying Circus skit about the meat product in which a groups of Vikings eating at a diner erupts in loud, boisterous song whenever they hear the word, interrupting the other customers.
Reminded of these obnoxious Vikings, early internet users in the ‘90s started using the words “spam” and “spamming” to refer to the content as well as the distribution of unsolicited emails, with USENET user Richard Depew being credited as the first documented person to do so.
The Company Behind the Food SPAM Wasn’t Happy
While many of the first spam emails were created as pranks, they quickly became an avenue for online advertisers. By 1997, the FTC was holding hearings to consider what if anything could be done to curb this increasingly incessant practice before ultimately deciding to leave regulation “to industry, consumers, and the marketplace.”
Unsurprisingly, Hormel Foods wasn’t too happy to see its most successful product become associated with one of the most frustrating things about the internet, and as owners of the SPAM trademark tried to pursue anti-spam services Spambuster and SpamArrest for infringement.
These attempts were unsuccessful, with judges ruling that customers would be able to differentiate the real spam from the electronic one. “Hormel is acting like a corporate crybaby,” the CEO of SpamArrest said at the time, “and ought to can it.”