Attempting to Personalize Spam: UR DOIN IT RONG

2008 July 12
by Kate Harding

I just received an e-mail that begins:

hey there! I’m embarking on  weight loss scheme, in 90 days, and I’ve been inspired by your blog.

Yeeeeah. No, you haven’t. Unless you mean you look at us fatties for “thinspiration,” in which case, you probably wouldn’t be so stupid as to ask me to link to your weight loss blog. And you are indeed that stupid. 

Dude (who’s in his late teens) goes on to add:

Weight affects everyone, and with child obesity on the rise, I feel that people like me need promoting, to show that no all kids are lazing around getting to the size of whales!

Consider yourself promoted here, genius.

My inbox isn’t like this every day, but it is a lot of days, and I’m not alone. Fucking keywords.

28 Responses leave one →
  1. 2008 July 12

    hahahaHAHAHA!

    Congrats, dude, you are hilariously dumb.

  2. 2008 July 12
    Claire permalink

    SNARK.
    That.is.HILARIOUS.
    Thanks for making my weekend, oh clueless douchebag.

  3. 2008 July 12

    Weight affects everyone

    Well, Kate, he’s right! Everybody weighs something.

  4. 2008 July 12
    Time-Machine permalink

    to show that no all kids are lazing around getting to the size of whales!

    For some reason this made me think WHALE PEOPLE which made me think MERMAIDS which totally made me think MERMAID EPIDEMIC!

    And then I was like heee! Mermaid epidemic. That’s an epidemic I could get behind. “Oh noes! I caught the ability to breathe underwater!”

    Hehehe. *is amused*

  5. 2008 July 12

    I totally want a mermaid epidemic!

    One of my favorite bits of writing for the Manolosphere is that I get to see what winds up in the spam catcher. It never ceases to amaze and amuse me how many people were just discussing the subject of Manolo for the Brides the other day and wonder what made me choose to write on that subject…and then link to some bizarre porn site or offer the best possible prices on Viagra.

    Silly spammers. I enjoy the exercise of pointing and laughing.

  6. 2008 July 12
    MrsDrC permalink

    Hahaha-HA-HA!

    And when the idiot is the size of a whale because crash diet after crash will have “failed” maybe he’ll come back and actually READ this blog and learn a thing or two!

  7. 2008 July 12
    jenk permalink

    MrsDrC – Only if he actually goes on his diet himself.

    I keep thinking that many weight loss/fitness industry folk are mostly naturally thin, they just use being thin as a marketing move. Cause of course the right diet/exercise will turn 400lb me into a 125lb maven, right?

  8. 2008 July 12
    fillyjonk permalink

    Well, Kate, he’s right! Everybody weighs something.

    GRAVITY AFFECTS EVERYONE

  9. 2008 July 12
    sarawr permalink

    If he’s fat now and trying to lose weight, does that mean that at some point he DID “laze around and get to the size of a whale?” Coz man, I’ve been lazing around for MONTHS, and I’m only the size of a fat girl.

  10. 2008 July 12

    sarawr, me, too! Despite having no time in the last six months to do anything other than eat quick convenient meals, study, work, and sometimes sleep, I still fail to get any larger than fat girl sized. When is it MY turn to have a blowhole?

  11. 2008 July 12
    sarawr permalink

    Heh-heh-heh, emmy said “blowhole.”

    (sarawr: deesendin 2 teh levul of spammerz!)

  12. 2008 July 12
    shiloh permalink

    I’m promoting him to the top of my “Totally Clueless” list, myself.

    Middle daughter wants to be part of the mermaid epidemic, but second son would rather be a whale (an orca, to be specific)…

  13. 2008 July 13
    Sarah permalink

    A little perspective to these spammers who think they are oh so clever with their whale references:

    Whales weigh up to 45 tons, OK? Please tell me the last time you’ve seen a 45 ton human child.

  14. 2008 July 13
    withoutscene permalink

    @Sarah Honey I Blew Up The Kid…but, uh, that was so not real. I mean, that couldn’t happen, could it? And does it count if he wasn’t “fat” for a giant child?

    Oh, dude. Think of how many baby flavored donuts that would make. *off to patent invention for baby flavored revolution* Mmmmmmm.

  15. 2008 July 13

    Now I keep singing “getting to the size of whales!” in my head to the tune of “owner of a lonely heart”

    (Less glibly, this actually gave me a misty-eyed moment, believe it or not. My four-year-old loves whales so much. He has a poster of them on his wall, plays with whale figurines, draws whales, ropes his dad and me into playing the getting-directions-from-a-whale scene from Finding Nemo. He’d be so excited to think that he could get to be as big as a whale. I wonder how long until he realizes that that’s meant to be an insult. And I wonder how long until he realizes that the fact that he plays with whale figurines while the other boys in his preschool class play with Transformers may be a basis for his exclusion.)

  16. 2008 July 13

    A Sarah: Now I’m singing it too! HELLLP!

    Also: why is he waiting ninety days?

  17. 2008 July 13
    Karen permalink

    Even when I was really really insecure about my weight (which has ballooned recently due to some psychiatric meds recently) I never understood the “whale” comparison. Whales are so pretty. So I guess, if you compare me to a whale, I must say thank you, they’re graceful, they sing beautifully and they’re quite athletic. *shrug* Our local genius here just doesn’t get it.

  18. 2008 July 13
    Lois Waller permalink

    A Sarah: Tooootally unrelated to the OP, but your post about your son’s love of whales made me think of Alexis Gosselin (one of the sextuplets on the annoying-yet-addictive reality show Jon and Kate Plus 8). She’s an adorable four-year-old who loves reptiles, especially alligators–she even carries a huge plastic gator with her everywhere and kisses it. And the first thing I thought of when I saw this cute little girl who adores scaly, slithering creatures was that other little girls would soon be telling her how gross and icky reptiles are and how she should like Barbies or Disney princesses or something.

    But yeah, it really bums me out that difference can be such a problem, even when it comes to kids’ interests.

  19. 2008 July 13

    *wants to be a whale, too*

    Coz man, I’ve been lazing around for MONTHS, and I’m only the size of a fat girl.

    I’ve been lazing around for YEARS and I’m only the size of an average woman. Beat that. :P (Next up: Person who claims to have been lazing around for his or her entire LIFE and is not only skinny, but short!)

    Mermaid epidemic. Oh my. I love you guys.

  20. 2008 July 13

    shiloh, wow! when we get together your son and my son can talk orcas.

  21. 2008 July 13

    Next up: Person who claims to have been lazing around for his or her entire LIFE and is not only skinny, but short!)

    I can almost do that! Except around age 18 I stopped lazing and started skating and walking a lot (big campus, no car). Still short, though.

  22. 2008 July 14
    sarawr permalink

    I would just like to point out that a whale is a wish your heart makes.

    I know it makes no sense. And yet, it is in my head.

  23. 2008 July 14
    Arwen permalink

    A Sarah – Have he seen Whale Rider? It’s such an awesome movie on a whole lot of fronts, not least of which is the love for and saving of a whale.

  24. 2008 July 14
    bellacoker permalink

    Kids these days get to laze around and get to the size of whales?!? They have it sooo good!

    Back in my day we got kicked out of the house to go play, no lazing for us, and we had to walk uphill (BOTH WAYS) to the 7-11 to get a Slurpee. It was like living in an MC Escher print, except we had frosty beverages. . .

  25. 2008 July 14
    Abbasmurf permalink

    What the hell? Who even responds to these ads? There much be a huge supply of idiots out there if the spam keepings on coming. Lame.

  26. 2008 July 14
    DOYYYY SHOU permalink

    JOHN FREEMAN, WHO WAS GORDON FREEMAN’S BROTHER, WAS ONE DAY IN AN OFFICE, TYPING ON A COMPUTER…

  27. 2008 July 14

    Oooh, Arwen, thanks! We’re always on the lookout for movies that actually encourage the behaviors we want to encourage. I think we’ll order that today.

  28. 2008 July 16

    oh, Google Alerts. How you love to frequently include random and unrelated pages to the actual keyword you’re set to.

    Seriously…my alerts are for things like “feminism” “body image” “reproductive rights” etc, and not too long ago I got a link to this kid’s livejournal entry about how he’d been accepted to the University of Georgia (which, coincidentally, is my alma mater – but I don’t have an alert set up for it).

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