Scam and Spam - What is the difference?

[Michael Diver]

Hallo everybody,
I have just discovered this Website and have registered
five minutes ago. Please tell me the difference between
Scam and Spam. Sometimes these English Internet words
are funny and confusing.
Thanks a lot.
Michael Diver.

[Torsten]

Hi Michael,

Welcome to english-test.net and many thanks for your question.

Both words - scam and spam describe something negative. A scam is fraudulent (often illegal) business scheme and spam is unwanted e-mail (often very annoying). Spam is also called junk.
By the way, many people who orchestrate scams use spam to accomplish their goals.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[yo]

spam is also canned meat

[Torsten]

While we are at: Spam is also popular Monty Python sketch in which two customers were trying to order a breakfast without spam from a menu which seemingly includes it in every item.
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Michael Diver]

Hallo Yo,
Please tell me more.
I heard that Spam was a pink canned meat from GB in the 50?s & 60?s.
It was very cheap to buy and also in abundance.
That?s where the term "Spam" came from which is used in the Internet.
Is this correct? Can anybody tell me more.
Thanks,
Michael Diver

[Alan]

You may well be right. I speak as someone who had the misfortune to eat it in those days. I didn't like it then and I don't like its namesake now clogging up my computer.
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[Torsten]

Well, It'll be interesting what Yo has to say about this issue, in the meantime I'd like to contribute the following.

SPAM is an acronym which orginally was made up of some of the letters of these words: Shoulder Pork and HAm or SPiced HAM = SPAM

Then in the 70ies or was it in the 80ies? there was that skit by Monty Python's Flying Circus. In that sketch there was a dialogue between in a resturant between customers and the waitress. It turned out that every single item on the resturant's menu contained Spam - Spiced Ham and the waitress kept repeating the word spam several times. In addition to the waitress' answers there was group of Vikings singing this song in the background: Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, lovely spam! Wonderful spam! Until they were told to finally shut up.
So, the term spam turned into a word describing something that keeps emerging over and over again until it annoys all the recipients. That is the connection between unnerving junk email messages about Viagra, business schemes and all kinds of other mental garbage and the annoying Viking choir chanting their Spam song. Still, the question remains as to who exactly was the first to use the term spam for unsolicited email.

By the way, below is a list of keywords and keyword combinations containing the word spam. This list has been generated by Overture and shows how often the particular search term is looked for on Overture's Search Engines (MSN; Yahoo, etc.) Please, mind that the numbers do not include the searches generated by Google which means you would have to add at least the same amount of queries to find out how often combinations with spam are looked for every single day:

spam filter 4,854.3 /day
spam blocker 2,987.6 /day
spam 2,720.5 /day
anti spam 1,043.1 /day
anti spam software 440.5 /day
block spam 394.9 /day
stop spam 385.6 /day
free spam blocker 133.2 /day
spam software 124.5 /day
spam mail 123.6 /day
spam control 111.5 /day
spam email 109.5 /day
report spam 102.5 /day
official spam forum 81.1 /day
spam law 74.3 /day
spam killer 71.7 /day
free spam filter 65.8 /day
spam stopper 54.6 /day
spam cop 46.3 /day
california anti spam 45.3 /day
free anti spam 44.9 /day
anti spam filter 44.7 /day
spam filtering 44.1 /day
affordable anti hosting services spam web 42.4 /day
free spam 41.5 /day
free spam blockers 40.9 /day
spam protection 39.9 /day
san jose anti spam 39.7 /day
can spam act 39.3 /day
spam guard 39.2 /day
spam inspector 38.7 /day
can spam 37.2 /day
email spam filter 35.2 /day
spam blocking 35.0 /day
spam free email 34.9 /day
filter jose san spam 34.7 /day
spam recipe 34.5 /day
blocker jose san spam 34.2 /day
outlook spam filter 32.8 /day
free anti spam software 31.5 /day
yahoo spam blocker 30.4 /day
spam filter review 30.3 /day
spam subtract 28.8 /day
i hate spam 28.6 /day
outlook spam 28.4 /day
free anti spam download 28.2 /day
spam lawsuit 27.7 /day
bay area anti spam 27.4 /day
spam reporting 27.0 /day
spam assassin 26.9 /day
area bay filter spam 26.6 /day
spam black list 26.6 /day
area bay blocker spam 26.2 /day
spam definition 26.1 /day
e mail spam 25.7 /day
anti spam program 25.4 /day
anti spam or antispam 24.5 /day
yahoo anti spam 24.2 /day
eliminate spam 23.4 /day
california filter spam 23.4 /day
norton anti spam 22.4 /day
free spam software 22.3 /day
spam list 22.0 /day
blocker california spam 21.9 /day
yahoo spam 21.2 /day
free spam killer 20.7 /day
spam tool 20.0 /day
outlook express spam blocker 19.8 /day
spam arrest 19.7 /day
no spam 19.1 /day
how to get rid of spam 18.9 /day
spam bayes 18.8 /day
pop up and spam blocker 18.8 /day
free download for spam blocker 18.2 /day
outlook express spam filter 18.1 /day
spam bully 18.1 /day
anti company spam 17.7 /day
free spam ware 17.7 /day
spam maildefender software 17.4 /day
anti spam stock 17.3 /day
spam blocker utility 17.2 /day
monty python spam 17.1 /day
free spam blocker downloads 16.9 /day
free spam blocker outlook express 16.8 /day
free spam block 16.3 /day
spam assasin 15.6 /day
spam firewall 15.1 /day
spam buster 15.1 /day
anti spam tool 14.7 /day
free outlook express spam filter 14.7 /day
email spam blocker 14.2 /day
barracuda spam 13.9 /day
spam museum 13.7 /day
fight spam 13.5 /day
barracuda spam firewall 13.4 /day
the best spam filter 13.3 /day
outlook spam blocker 13.1 /day
hormel spam 13.1 /day
free yahoo spam blocker 12.9 /day
spam fighter 12.6 /day
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary