What is Lorem Ipsum?

Ever designed something or had something designed which didn’t have any copy text to go in it yet? Then you may be familiar with Lorem Ipsum, if not it looks something like this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Lorem Ipsum in action on heyletsrock.com

Lorem Ipsum is dummy text used to fill in content areas until the real content arrives. It’s commonly called Lorem Ipsum because those are the first two words of the text. Lorem Ipsum has been the standard dummy text used in the print industry since the 1500s, when a typesetter used the Latin text to typeset pages to show examples of different type (fonts).

However, it’s not just a bunch of random Latin words as it appears (or “Harry Potter text”, as one client called it). Lorem Ipsum actually comes from passages in “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. The book became very popular during the Renaissance and Lorem Ipsum is taken from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of the book.

Here is the first section along with it’s English translation: (you’ll notice “delorem ipsum…” about halfway through)

Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?

In English: (1914 translation by H. Rackham)

But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?

Heavy. Who knew that’s what was filling in for their real content? So why is Lorem Ipsum used for dummy text instead of say, the same word over and over or, you know, something in English? The same word repeated over and over “copy copy copy copy copy” doesn’t look natural to the eye and “real” articles used as dummy content are distracting to the reader, well, because they actually know what it says. (I think the chance of a Latin professor reading your Lorem Ipsum is pretty slim).

Want some Lorem Ipsum of your very own to use when the situation arises? Head over to www.lipsum.com to generate as many paragraphs, words or bytes as you want.