English edit

Etymology edit

Coined at PodCamp Pittsburgh 2, 2007, modelled on spam (junk mail, or a meat product) and bacon.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

bacn (uncountable)

  1. (Internet, informal) Non-spam email messages that have been signed up for, but which the recipient does not necessarily want or have time to read.
    • 2008, Bill Young, Webplicity 2.0: The Critical Guide to Successful Web Strategies[1], iUniverse, →ISBN, page 100:
      Examples of bacn email are: bank statement notifications, e-news alerts from companies, newsletters ...
    • 2008 January–February, “70 Ways to Improve Every Day of the Week”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 1, →ISSN, page 134:
      5 dump your bacn This is the term for e-mail newsletters you've subscribed to. Kill them off Monday morning. A study by MessageGate estimates up to 30 percent of e-mails are bacn.
    • 2010, Gina Trapani, Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better[2], John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 35:
      In other words, they're messages that you want to read eventually, just not right now. Clearing away the bacon automatically can help you drill down to what's important more quickly.
    • 2011, Ryan Teeter, Karl Barksdale, Google Apps for Dummies[3], John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:
      Rather than let bacn accumulate and ruin an otherwise pleasant day, ...
    • 2011 March 9, John D. Sutter, “Google 'smart labels' aim to de-stress e-mail”, in CNN[4], retrieved 2013-03-16:
      The smart labels feature essentially focuses on "bacn," that brand of e-mail that people subscribe to and generally want to read -- but don't have time for right now.

Anagrams edit