Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A message, especially a mean-spirited one, conveying criticism or complaint.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun informal A written communication containing unpleasant material, especially one that criticizes, insults, or intimidates the recipient.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Blend of nasty and -gram. Possibly a playful variation of candygram.

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Examples

  • Elliott Back's personal site about Cornell University has attracted a nastygram from the university, which argues that it's possible that someone (presumably someone very foolish) might mistake his site (whose URL is cornell. elliottback.com) with Cornell University's site.

    Boing Boing: February 26, 2006 - March 4, 2006 Archives 2006

  • Next a court in Jersey yesterday ruled against Edward Felton, who was intimidated out of publishing an academic paper deconstructing the security model of the Secure Digital Music Initiative by a nastygram from the RIAA.

    Boing Boing: November 25, 2001 - December 1, 2001 Archives 2001

  • This solution was certainly interesting and unique, but of course there are many cases where the nastygram is the best approach.

    Techdirt 2009

  • Anderson told the Chronicle of Higher Education that she may have received an e-mail, which he called a "nastygram," last Friday confirming her tenure was rejected.

    NY Post: News By CHUCK BENNETT 2010

  • Anderson told the Chronicle of Higher Education that she may have received an e-mail, which he called a "nastygram," last Friday confirming her tenure was rejected.

    NY Post: News By CHUCK BENNETT 2010

  • This means, among other things, that people from certain countries visiting Sourceforge will not gain immediate access to the open source projects contained therein, but rather, will receive a "nastygram" in the form of a 403 forbidden message.

    Linux Knowledge Base and Tutorial 2010

  • DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Monster.com sent a legal nastygram to USAction demanding the liberal advocacy group cease and desist its campaign to get the job listing site to quit posting ads that discriminate against unemployed people.

    HUFFPOST HILL - Court Gives 2009 Republicans A Big Win Eliot Nelson 2011

  • Speaking of which, I wanted to compliment you on the great job you did drafting that nastygram for the MLS Commissioner.

    What will happens when Beavers, Timbers play on same night? (Jack Bog's Blog) 2009

  • In 2006, they sent a cease-and-desist nastygram to the Irish non-profit organization IT@Cork for using the word in the name of their conference and sparked a kerfuffle over the ownership of "Web 2.0"

    Alphabet of Computing 2009

  • Calling the letter he received a "nastygram," Mr. Sheikh said he decided to pay for the license because it wasn't worth the effort to fight it.

    Colorado Ski Towns Scour Slopes for Cold Cash Ann Zimmerman 2011

Comments

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  • Not a term I had heard before, but seems quite well established.

    November 10, 2007

  • an email with a negative, critical or threatening tone

    July 12, 2009

  • "When a rightsholder sends a nastygram to Amazon, you don't get a say in whether to treat the claim as valid or bogus."

    --"Amazon's Orwellian deletion of Kindle books", boingboing, July 20, 2009 (Cory Doctorow)

    July 20, 2009