I get a lot of spam email, so it is just as well I have an excellent spam filter. Nevertheless, the occasional spam email does slip through. Like this one:
Dear Customer David C Jenkins: Sexy dresses Under USD 12.99 and free delivery
What I find troubling about this is that the sender seems to know I am a Canadian Anglican and is catering to my demographics’ taste in men’s clothing accordingly.
There was a time when spam didn’t denote unwanted email from vendors of products designed to enlarge parts of the anatomy not usually discussed in polite company.
Just as now, I don’t remember spam ever being rationed – I’m not sure why – but I do recall enjoying it fried.
From here:
How the US cemented its worldwide influence with Spam.
[T]he flagship of American influence in my own life was Spam, the bright-pink pork luncheon meat that was a staple of the British working-class diet for several decades.
It’s still going strong in many markets around the world – including the United States – and although the odd concession has been made to changing times (it’s less fatty and salty than it used to be) it’s still essentially the same as it always was.
I came to know it in the early 1960s, in the days before the invention of obesity. In common with millions of other British families we used to slice it, coat it in batter and then deep-fry it, thus producing that miracle of British culinary ingenuity known as the spam fritter.
So when the time came to find a way to round off my three years as the BBC’s North America correspondent, it seemed somehow fitting to head not for the bright lights of New York or Chicago but for the less showy charms of Austin, Minnesota, home of the Hormel Food Company. Spam Central, in short.
It would be fair to say that Austin, like a lot of cities in the northern Mid West, is not flattered by the grim, flat light of early winter. But the Spam Museum, which is its main tourist attraction, is a riot of cheery colour.
Inside you are treated to the services of a “Spambassador” (I said it was colourful, not subtle) and you enjoy a movie presentation that draws heavily on the musical work of a group of ladies called the Spamettes.
And it turns out that it’s not fanciful at all to see Spam as a symbol of the spread of American influence.
Our Spambassador Chris George tells us that the product was already popular in the United States in the 1930s – the first radio jingle, in fact, is a kind of ode to Spam set to the tune of My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean.
This, of course, is the definitive ode to spam:
I’m sure you do, too; here are the subject lines of some of mine – those more or less fit to print :
Subject: Your wife photos attached
And to think I nearly forwarded them to my wife before looking at them – well, I didn’t actually look at them.
Subject: Your originality starts with branded accessories. You will be able to find a lady as soon as you buy Armani bangle.
I wish I’d known that when I was 15
Subject: Mr. mr.toad, we offer 80% off. several used an
All these years I’ve been looking for an “an” and now, finally it is within my grasp.
Subject: Sale note for mr.toad – 70% lowered prices. His York is
OK, stop these tantalising headings: His York is what?
Subject: 15mg x 60 Codeine $264.00 (+4 FreeViagra pills), No RX required! Highest Quality! Buy now! 12o3
Do I take the 60 Codeines before the 4 Viagras or after?
Subject: * Wal-Mart earnings rise adenectomy aggrandizing accomodate adneural acarus
No thanks, I cleaned the acarus out of my adneural yesterday
Subject: Bang her till she drops
Can’t, tonight’s the night for cleaning the acarus out of my adneural again.
Subject: Everyone dreams about a university degree but you can get it for almost FREE. You will become a valuable employee if …
What about those of us who are looking forward to being laid off and are trying to project an aura of worthlessness?
