Spam As Folk Art for 2006 September 19

There's a new spam subject genre in town. I've only seen it used to advertise Cialis (more precisely, CIA9LIS), but Kevan's posted about it before and it's time it got its due. This subject follows a familiar pattern: a trite advertising phrase followed by a randomly selected string. But where other, similar subjects use random words or sequences of letters, these subjects use short phrases.

Random phrases are no strangers to spam (their source is the web2a dictionary, and possibly Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases), but this is the first time they've figured so prominently in the subject. Plus, there's the comma. Other random strings were just tacked on to the end of their come-ons. The SAFA archives bring up some quick examples: People Laugh at You? HWElb and It`s time to Refill agrarian. We spam-mockers could make the two parts fit together for comedic purposes but we kind of had to work at it. These subjects helpfully connect the two parts with a comma, yielding bizarre glimpses into surreal realities without us having to do any work at all:

• Your cash, paint-beplastered

  I don't care much for this modern art.

• Your health, nine-lived

  That's good news!

• Your health, nutrient ratio

  Or not so good!

• Your cash, out-of-school

  At last my cash can get a job and make an honest living.

• Hi, monkey-god

  I got Hanuman's spam.

• Your future, peacock moth

  A light bulb features prominently.

• Your future, mid-gray

  Gee, thanks for reminding me.

• Hi, mutton cane

  One of the more obscure Victorian insults.