Lorem Ipsum

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Grammarist

Lorem ipsum is a Latin phrase that has been adopted into English. We will examine the meaning of the term lorem ipsum, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

Lorem ipsum is sample text that is used in designing print items or websites. The lorem ipsum text is nonsense Latin that serves to demonstrate the layout of text, without distracting the observer with a discernible story or information. The opening words of the text are lorem ipsum. Lorem ipsum is a corruption of the phrase Dolorem Ipsum, which means pain in and of itself. The lorem ipsum text is a jumbling of the work De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, written by Cicero, a politician and orator who lived in ancient Rome. The use of lorem ipsum as a text placeholder dates back to the 1500s. The term lorem ipsum was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2018.

Examples

There’s something quite beautiful about lorem ipsum placeholder text, a scrambled version of a 1st-century BC Latin text by Cicero, but if you spend too long staring at it, waiting for creative inspiration to come, it can get a little terrifying. (The Independent)

Perhaps that’s why I’m so taken with this valiant attempt at translating Lorem Ipsum, the standard dummy text for printers which is a mangling of Cicero, and which dates back to the 16th century. (The Guardian)

Sometimes, when we’re putting together an issue of the LRB, we use Lorem Ipsum, a chunk of phoney Latin dummy text that’s been used by printers and typesetters since the 16th century. (The London Review of Books)

It’s possible that if either entity uses lorem ipsum placeholder text in a document, Google might think that it’s looking at the “Latin translation” of the text.  (The Atlantic)