Date: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 09:05:21 -0600

From: Bonnie Briggs BBRIGGS[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ADMIN2.MEMPHIS.EDU

Subject: Re: Word of the Year



SPAM is good and everything you say is very true. But my pick is the Ping of

Death. Didn't think the Internet could be so morbid, did you? At first, this

appears to be a joke or the product of what many of like to refer to as the

"wire-head" culture. However, it is very real and can shut down someone's

network very quickly. Pinging has been around for a while. That's where you

send a Ping command to a server to see if it is working. This is usually done

when people are trying to access a site and keep getting error messages. The

Ping of Death sends a huge amount of bytes, more than a server could possibly

handle, thereby shutting it down.



Bonnie Briggs

The University of Memphis







My unofficial nomination for word of the year is:



SPAM: unsolicited, bulk email (there is also a verb form). Alternate

sense: to bombard people with useless information. Source possibly a

Monty Python skit in which the name of the product "Spam" is used a

zillion times in a list of menu possibilities in a comedic reference to

the main source of meat in post-WWII Britain.



Having received 86 pieces of email spam in October alone, I think this

word stands a chance of winning.