lorem ipsum

Lorem ipsum

   <text> A common piece of text used as mock-{content} when
   testing a given page layout or {font}.

   The following text is often used:

   "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.  The text is not
   really Greek, but badly garbled Latin.  It started life as
   extracted phrases from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of
   Cicero's "De Finibus Bonorum 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 in ea 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
   shrinking from 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 owing to 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 the
   centuries, into "Lorem ipsum...".

   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 "abc
   123 abc 123", "Content here content here", or the like.

   The text is often used when previewing the layout of a
   document, as the use of more understandable text would
   distract the user from the layout being examined.  A related
   technique is {greeking}.

   Lorem Ipsum - All the facts (http://lipsum.com/).

   (2006-09-18)