If you play it backwards, it says:
MY NAME IS MRS. MARIAM ABACHA THE WIFE OF THE LATE AND FORMER HEAD OF STATE OF NIGERIA GENERAL SANNI ABACHA.
Really. Try it.
I've gotten these as well, my spam filter sometimes catches them based on the server they're coming from rather than the content, but sometimes lets them through. I suspect they're an attempt to confuse spam filters so that in the future they let through advertising spam.
retal tnemom a iloccorb tnod tsuj i reffoc siht tirem ton noisutnoc tespu siht elttil tsaisuhtne tnorf eht hguorht etarebiled
Shit, you're right.
That's how you say it in Nigerian.
it's done to foil a spam-detection technique known as "bayesian filtering." A paper on Bayesian filtering can be found here: http://www.process.com/precisemail/bayesian_filtering.htm
Also, did it come with a picture? Some spam contains a thingie that when you open the e-mail it "calls" a website that brings up a picture/image (the image isn't contained in the e-mail itself, but gets placed there when you open the e-mail). The random English is there to make filters think it's a real message, which is why it doesn't contain words like "enlarge", "mortgage", etc.
The call to the website when you open the e-mail lets the spammer know that they've found a valid e-mail address. They can then send more spam and/or sell the address to other spammers.
That's the thing, Mitch, no picture, no hidden URL, nada. So I also don't see what good it does to foil the filter if the message has no substantive content...
'That's how you say it in Nigerian.'
bullshit, 'retal tnemom' is Nigerian for Rectal Thermometer.
I thought it was Bush's State of the Union speech, especially that part about broccoli.