The name of a canned meat brand sold by the U.S. company Hormel Foods, and also a term for unsolicited bulk messages. The two senses became linked through Monty Python’s repetitive “Spam” sketch.
The earliest recorded spam was a dental advertisement sent by telegram in 1864 in Britain. The furious recipient wrote to The London Times: "By what right do they send me a telegram that is plainly, purely an advertisement, to disturb me?"