Example of the placeholder lorem ipsum text mistakenly making its way into print in Singapore’s Straits Times, 26 April 2014
23 April 2021
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet ... This seemingly pseudo-Latin, phrase is used in the typesetting industry as a place holder for text. It is intended to be a meaningless passage used to demonstrate what a printed page will look like without the reader being distracted by the content. Occasionally, one will see it make its way into print or onto a web page due to an editorial oversight.
There are many variations on the lorem ipsum text, but one common version reads:
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.
But what, if anything, does it mean? It is a corrupted extract from Cicero’s De finibus bonorum et malorum (The Extremes of Good and Evil) written in 45 B.C.E. Cicero’s actual words and a translation follow. Note that among other errors, the typesetter’s version begins not only in mid-sentence, but also in the middle of the word dolorem:
Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia nonnumquam eiusmodi 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?
(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?)
How long has this particular dummy text been around? There are claims that it can be found in 16th century printer’s samples, but these claims are unverified. Extant evidence for its use dates to the 1960s when the Letraset company began using the lorem ipsum text in promotional material for their products. (In the days before desktop publishing and computerized typesetting, Letraset produced transfer sheets of letters in various font sets that one could use to mock up page layouts. My first job after leaving the army in 1989 was as an editor for a number of professional newsletters, and I used Letraset transfers to create the headlines on the camera-ready copies we sent to the printer.) In the 1980s, electronic typesetting programs, such as Aldus Pagemaker, began including the text as default filler, and its usage exploded. It seems unlikely that Letraset initiated the practice of using this dummy passage, and it probably had been used by printers for some time before the 1960s, even if it does not date to the 1500s.
Sources:
Adams, Cecil. “What Does the Filler Text ‘Lorem Ipsum’ Mean?” The Straight Dope, 16 February 2001.
Cicero. “De finibus bonorum et malorum.” On Ends. H. Rackham, trans. Loeb Classical Library 40. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1914, 1.10, 35–37
Cima, Rosie. “The History of Lorem Ipsum.” Priceonomics, 13 March 2015.
Photo credit: "Literary Icon in the Malay Community," Straits Times, 26 April 2014, D6. Unknown photographer, 2014. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.