SPAM SPAM SPAM

by Monty Python

SPAM

Technology always has an influence on language. When printing came in, it brought new words into the language. When broadcasting first started new words came into the language. And now the internet has come along so it’s not surprising that quite a large number of new words have come into English vocabulary since, especially the last 10 years really since the world wide web came into being. And of course if you’ve got emails, and most people have these days, then you will have encountered the word Spam. Spam flooding your email box with ads or other unwanted messages. But why the word Spam for this sort of thing?

Spam was originally a tinned meat back in the 1930s, a brand name for a particular kind of cold meat. But it became very fashionable when Monty Python, the satirical television comedy series back in the 70s and 80s they had a sketch where just for fun they had spam with every item on the restaurant menu - bacon and spam, egg and spam, ham and spam, spam and spam. Spam spam spam spam… and they actually sang a song about it and it caught on.

And therefore it became a real part of the language meaning any unwanted material of any kind and so when the internet came along it wasn’t surprising really that spam became part of that kind of experience. And the evidence that it’s become part of the language is not just because of the noun spam which you might expect to see in the internet context but because it’s generated other kinds of linguistic expression as well.

You’ve now got verbs based upon it, and adjectives based upon it. You can now have ‘I’ve been spammed’ or ‘somebody’s spamming me’ and the actual people who do the work themselves who send all these horrible emails out to everybody so that we’re flooded with these things, what are they called? Well there’s a new noun, they’re called ‘spammers’.

By Professor David Crystal (BBC)

Well, now you know where the word "spam" comes from. Hope you have enjoyed the video and the reading.

Carmela

BUZZWORDS:THE NOUGTHIES

Although my Word spell checker keeps flagging (marking) it as incorrect, the ‘noughties’ is the name that seems to have caught on (become popular) to refer to the first decade of the 21st century. The word “noughties” comes from the ‘nought’ (zero), in front of each year number: 2001, 2002, 2003, etc. and sounds like ‘naughty’, which is probably the reason for its success.
Other suggestions that didn’t catch on were: ‘the twenty-hundreds’, ‘the double ohs’, ‘the twenty-os’, ‘the oh-ohs’, ‘the ohs’, ‘the zeros’, ‘the two thousands’, ‘the ones’, …

What will we call the decade that has just begun (2010-2019)? The favourites seem to be ‘the twenty-tens’, ‘the tens’, ‘the teenies’ and ‘the teens’. Time will tell.

There’s also some confusion about how to say the year ‘2010’. Although 2009 was ‘two thousand and nine’, the year 2010 is pronounced either ‘twenty ten’ or ‘two thousand (and) ten’. Some people even say ‘oh ten’. So it’s up to you (it’s your choice/decision) how you say it.

Source: Revista Think in English. http://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/noughties.html

'wiki wiki'

There can’t be many people left who haven’t heard of Wikipedia. At least not many who have access to the internet. But ask them what a ‘wiki’ is, and there’s a good chance you’ll be met with a blank look and a scratch of the head.
But what is Wikipedia? OK, I get the '-pedia' part – that’s from encyclopedia, right? Yes, and what about the wiki? In fact it’s the 'wiki' part which is the USP (unique selling point) of Wikipedia. It means that anyone can contribute their own information and content to the site. It’s open to anybody, anywhere at any time.

The ‘wiki’ part is actually a Hawaiian word meaning ‘quickly’. Ward Cunningham, the man credited with developing the wiki concept for the internet, was at Honolulu airport in Hawaii and was told to take the ‘wiki wiki bus’. He was understandably confused and when he asked what it meant was told it simply meant the quick bus. He liked it so much he decided to name his new web project after it.

Do you mind if I facebook you?

Do you use any of the social networking websites which are so popular these days? You know - the places where you can connect up with friends and relatives and meet people who share the same interests as you? If you're younger you may use MySpace, young adults are more likely to be found on Facebook and busy professionals may prefer something like LinkedIn. But at least two of these sites have one thing in common: apart from being social spaces where you can meet and chat to people, share photos and other things, they've all added new verbs and nouns to the language in the past couple of years. Let's take a look at some examples...

I've just facebooked the photos from my summer holiday [uploaded them to my facebook page].

I facebooked that guy John and it turns out he's an architect [looked him up in Facebook].

Did you facebook Susan about the party? [contact Susan through her Facebook page].

Anyway, nice to meet you. Do you mind if I facebook you? [add you as a Facebook friend].

As you can see, 'facebook' is a pretty versatile word, and you could say the same about 'myspace', which you will find being used in much the same way all over the Net. LinkedIn (being a more adult, professional community) is yet to succumb to such cavalier twisting of the English language!

And while you're 'facebooking' or 'myspacing' you may also find yourself 'commenting' (writing a comment on someone's Facebook or MySpace page), as in this example: 'I commented Dawn that she should come to the pub on Saturday and she commented me that she couldn't because she was going away for the weekend'. Anyway, I must get on. I haven't facebooked yet today and there's sure to be a lot to catch up on!

Source: BBC

Do you facebook or myspace? Please, comment!!