SPISPOPD

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SPISPOPD (an abbreviation for Smashing Pumpkins Into Small Piles Of Putrid Debris) is part of a joke relating to the computer game Doom.

Its origin can be traced back to the following Usenet post by Eli S. Bingham in early December, 1993, from the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action newsgroup:

   Listen up, ID Software!

   Next time you have an impending release of a much anticipated
   game, make  sure its name is not so cool-sounding as DOOM and much
   longer to  eliminate all of the casual "Where can I get xxx" posts.
   How about  "Smashing Pumpkins Into Small Piles Of Putrid Debris" for
   the next game?

This initial quip was carried on, and a parody of the Doom FAQ was written called the SPISPOPD FAQ. The FAQ described a 3D game that ran on a computer with minimal specifications.

id Software gave a nod to the joke by planting it as a cheat code in the game. Typing "idspispopd" activates "no clipping" mode, which allows the player to walk through walls.

A second reference apparently sponsored by id Software appeared in the 1995 novelization of the video game series. The first book "Knee-Deep In The Dead" contains a passage in which one of the two major characters says "Smashing pumpkins into small pieces of putrid debris."

The Smashing Pumpkins also gave a nod to the joke by including Doom samples in their song "Where Boys Fear to Tread" from their Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness release.

Two computer games were created based on the joke. Smashing Pumpkins into Small Piles of Putrid Debris is a 2D action game from Jamul Software (which later became Hamumu Software) where you collect candles and smash pumpkins with a red hammer. It was reportedly developed in 48 hours to capitalize on the joke. Hamumu Software later created a similar game called Amazin' SPISPOPD.

In Master of Magic, there is an item named The Idspispopd, based on the Doom cheat code.

[edit] References

Mike Hommel (1993). Smashing Pumpkins into Small Piles of Putrid Debris. Hamumu Software. Retrieved on February 6, 2006.
Mike Hommel (1999). The History Of Hamumu Software. Hamumu Software. Retrieved on February 6, 2006.
Dafydd ab Hugh (1995) Knee-Deep in the Dead (Pocket Books, 1995), pg. 138.