The Claire Swire email of 2000 was a very personal
email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...
from Claire Swire to Bradley Chait, who worked at
Norton Rose, a law firm in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. She described his semen as "yum." He forwarded it to six friends, one of whom in turn forwarded it further with the subject line of "Do you know Claire Swire" until it spread worldwide within days, and received wide coverage in newspapers and television. The author of the original email is in doubt, as Chait later alleged that the email was a hoax perpetrated by colleagues.
Because of its wide coverage, the incident is often cited as an example of the problems that staff can cause to the reputation of their employer (and the risk of embarrassment and disciplinary measures) by forwarding personal or questionable material.
References
Further reading
*
* — Report on the fate of forwarders
* {{cite web, url=http://www.snopes.com/risque/tattled/swire.htm, work=Urban Legends Reference Pages, title=Risqué Business (Under the Yum-Yum Tree), date=20 December 2000, author=Barbara Mikkelson, publisher=Snopes.com
External links
Advice to managementTech Republic
Snopes.com, 12 July 2007 - examples of similar incidents
2000 in London
Email
Internet memes