When you read about spam in email marketing blog posts and articles, you probably notice writers rarely pause to define industry-specific lingo. While you undoubtedly know what block, bounce and tag mean, less common words and phrases might leave you scratching your head. Fortunately, Spamhaus fills in the blanks with a glossary that includes terms like these:

Listwashing. Simply put, spammers clean their list not by implementing a correct opt-in process, but by removing the address of anyone who complains. "Listwashing removes spam symptoms without curing the underlying problem," explains Spamhaus.

Snowshoe spamming. This is a technique in which spammers use multiple IP addresses and domains to spread the load of their activities across a wide area, much like a snowshoe distributes a hiker's weight. "Snowshoers have learned an important lesson from botnet spammers," notes Spamhaus. "[T]he IP that delivers the spam does not need to be the same IP that runs the actual spam-cannon server."

Cartooney. A conflation of the phrase "cartoon attorney," a cartooney is a baseless legal threat that intimidates recipients by citing irrelevant or nonexistent laws. According to Spamhaus, "Many promise to sue under invented laws such as the 'Freedom Of Speech Law' or 'International Email Law' and are usually written by spammers reacting to what they consider undeserved censure, being publicly identified or added to spam filter blocklists."

The Po!nt: Brush up on that spam talk. With a little help from the Spamhaus glossary, you'll get the most out of the email marketing conversation—and sound like a pro.

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