Every morning our email inboxes are laden with it (depending on how good of a spam filter you have) and now even our Facebook and Twitter accounts are plagued with these unwanted messages about teeth whitening and increasing the size of your…well, you know.

Ever wonder where the term SPAM came from? I mean, we all know that there’s a canned meat with the same name but what’s the connection? According to the Internet Society and other sources, the term spam is derived from the 1970 SPAM sketch on the comedy series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”

The sketch is set in a cafe where nearly every item on the menu includes SPAM canned luncheon meat. As the waiter recites the SPAM-filled menu, a chorus of Viking patrons drowns out all conversations with a song repeating “SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM… lovely SPAM! wonderful SPAM!”, hence “SPAMming” the dialogue. The basic concept of being “spammed” (receiving tons of unwanted email) owes it’s origin to the couple in the cafe who couldn’t order anything on the menu without getting varying amounts of the unwanted canned meat along with their order.

The 1970 Monty Python SPAM Sketch

So the next time you open your inbox and see 239 emails you didn’t ask for, you’ll be hearing those Vikings singing their spam song as you delete away.

How much spam do you get in your email inbox on an average day?