Hello Leanne,
Lorem ipsum is essentially nonsense words used as mock-content when testing
a given page layout or font. It's often called ³greek², ³greeking² or
³greeked text². The fact that it means nothing is beneficial in that one
does not get distracted reading it semi-consciously.
The most common bit of greeking is:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetaur 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.
This continues at length and variously. This is not really Greek, but badly
garbled Latin. It started life as extracted phrases from sections 1.10.32
and 1.10.33 of Cicero¹s De Finibus et Malorum (The Extremes of Good and
Evil), which read:
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 inea
voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem
eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?
At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis
praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas
molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt
in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum
fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero
tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus
id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis
dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut
rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et
molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente
delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut
perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat.
Translation:
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?
On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men
who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment,
so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are
bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty
through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinkingfrom
toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In
a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing
prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be
welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owingto
the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur
that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man
therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection:he
rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures
pains to avoid worse pains.
-- Translation by H. Rackham, from his 1914 edition of De Finibus.
However, since textual fidelity was unimportant to the goal of having random
text to fill a page, it has degraded over time, into ³Lorem ipsum...². The
point of using this text, or some other text of incidental intelligibility,
is that it has a more-or-less normal (for English and Latin, at least)
distribution of ascenders, descenders, and word-lengths, as opposed to just
using ³abc 123 abc 123², ³Content here content here², or the like.
Um, that was possibly more than you wanted to know. But I enjoyed broadening
your education, since I suspect the modern US education system has leftyou
short on languages. [I hasten to say I am not having a go at you at all--
just at modern education. I escaped it, since I am an old curmudgeon who was
educated to read Latin, and a little Greek, among more modern languages.]
;-)
Cheers,
Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================
Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
All my publication templates use Lorem Ipsum as place holders. Is there
suppose to be English on any of the Office templates? Many templates for 07
put directions in the place holder space. Can this Lorem Ipsum be translated
to English?
Etu Brutus.