Lorem ipsum began as scrambled

by Cameron Cox

Until recently, the prevailing view assumed lorem ipsum was born as a nonsense text. “It's not Latin, though it looks like it, and it actually says nothing,” Before & After magazine answered a curious reader, “Its ‘words’ loosely approximate the frequency with which letters occur in English, which is why at a glance it looks pretty real.”

Nor is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure.
  • McClintock wrote to Before & After to explain his discovery;
  • The 1914 Loeb Classical Library Edition ran out of room on page 34 for the Latin phrase “dolorem ipsum” (sorrow in itself).
  • One brave soul did take a stab at translating the almost-not-quite-Latin.
  • McClintock wrote to Before & After to explain his discovery;
  • Use our generator to get your own, or read on for the authoritative history of lorem ipsum.
  • One brave soul did take a stab at translating the almost-not-quite-Latin.
  • Richard McClintock, a Latin scholar from Hampden-Sydney College, is credited with discovering the source behind the ubiquitous filler text.
  • One brave soul did take a stab at translating the almost-not-quite-Latin.