Glossary of Email Spam Terms

The ongoing email war between spammers and anti-spammers has created a unique and rich American-English vocabulary. For example:

Spam -- SPAM, the canned meat, is a trademarked product of Hormel Foods. Spam, in lower case, is a popular term for bulk unsolicited e-mails. The term comes from a 1970 Monty Python skit in which conversation in a diner is drowned out by rowdy Vikings who sing about "Wonderful SPAM." The metaphor applies to junk e-mails crowding in-boxes.

Chicken boner -- A derisive reference to spammers, implying they are lowlifes who spend all their time in front of a computer with fried chicken bones littering the floor. More specifically, refers to a small-time or inexperienced spammer.

Joe Job -- Taking revenge on an anti-spammer by using the anti-spammer's e-mail address as the return address on a spam mailing. The Joe Job victim is then inundated with angry responses. Derived from the first such incident, where the victim was named Joe.

LART -- Short for Loser Attitude Readjustment Tool, refers to changing spammers' attitude by taking steps to kick them off the Internet.

Mainsleaze -- A mainstream company that spams or uses third parties to spam on its behalf.

RBL -- An abbreviation for Realtime Blackhole List, a tool for blocking Internet access to known spammers, maintained by the Mail Abuse Prevention System (www.mail-abuse.org), or MAPS, of Redwood City.

Whack-a-mole -- The largely pointless act of repeatedly shutting off e-mail accounts of a spammer who immediately moves on to new accounts.