MPPSC 2018 Prelims Paper-I · Question 76 of 100

Correct — D, SPAM. 'Spam' is the standard term for unsolicited, unwanted bulk e-mail (and, by extension, junk messages on any platform) sent indiscriminately to large numbers of recipients. The name comes from a 1970 Monty Python comedy sketch in which the word 'Spam' (a Hormel canned meat) is repeated over and over until it drowns out everything else — early internet users borrowed it for repetitive, unwanted messages, and it stuck.

• (a)CRAM — Not an e-mail term — 'cram' just means to stuff something in; it is not used for junk mail.
• (b)DRAM — DRAM stands for Dynamic Random Access Memory — a type of computer memory chip, not a category of e-mail.
• (c)JAM — Not a standard term for junk e-mail — 'jamming' refers to blocking a signal, an unrelated idea.

Spam is unsolicited bulk messaging — most often e-mail — sent to many recipients who never asked for it, usually to advertise, defraud, or spread malware. It is distinct from legitimate, wanted mail, which spam-filtering jargon jokingly calls 'ham'. Mail servers use spam filters (rule-based and Bayesian) to sort suspected spam out of the inbox.

This is a basic digital-literacy question. Three options are decoys that sound techy — DRAM is real (memory), CRAM and JAM are not e-mail terms at all — so the tell is recognising 'spam' as the everyday word for junk mail.

• SPAM = unsolicited, unwanted bulk e-mail sent to many recipients at once.
• The term comes from a 1970 Monty Python sketch that repeats the canned-meat brand 'Spam' endlessly.
• Wanted, legitimate mail is jokingly called 'ham' in spam-filtering.
• DRAM, by contrast, is Dynamic Random Access Memory — a computer memory chip, not e-mail.

• Confusing SPAM with DRAM (memory) because both look like acronyms
• Assuming 'spam' is a formal technical acronym rather than a borrowed nickname

MPPSC and UPSC ask 'what does term X mean' for everyday IT literacy — spam, phishing, cookies, firewall — usually as one-line definition questions.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In e-mail terminology, legitimate wanted mail (the opposite of spam) is jokingly called:

  • (a)ham
  • (b)jam
  • (c)cram
  • (d)dram

  Answer(a) ham — the standard counterpart to 'spam' in filtering.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following is primarily used to keep junk e-mail out of a user's inbox?

  • (a)A spam filter
  • (b)A compiler
  • (c)A disk defragmenter
  • (d)A spreadsheet

  Answer(a) A spam filter.