What is the origin of the word “ham” as used in “ham radio”?
“Ham” originally meant a “poor operator”. “Ham” was also already in more general use as a slang word meaning “incompetent”, most commonly in the phrase “ham actor”. Actors prefer to think that the word derives from the old theatrical use of ham fat to remove blackface makeup – actors were thus called hamfatters, or hams. Many scholars lean to this theory, but ‘ham’ in the sense of an amateur actor or a 10th rate actor who outrageously overplays his scenes has enough folk etymologies to make a one-act play. Since none really seems capable of absolute proof, I’ll simply list three: 1) Ham derives from the Cockney slang ‘hamateur,’ for ‘amateur actor.’ (Unlikely, as the term ‘ham’ in this sense is American from about 1880.) 2) The word structure of ‘amateur’ itself suggested ‘ham.’ (A good possibility, but why did it wait so long to suggest itself?) 3) It comes from the role of ‘Hamlet,’ which actors frequently misperformed. (Another good possibility, but, if so, ‘ham’ should have been wi