What does ‘Lorem Ipsum’ mean?


Often you will see the weird Latin words “Lorum ipsum” as filler in computer documents. Usually, this is used to fill artificial space or perhaps to demo a font’s features. But what the heck does lorum ipsum mean? We must turn to Cicero.

Lorum ispsum is from a mangled fragment from Cicero’s book De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (‘On the Limits of Good and Evil’). The fragment actually belongs to the phrase: dolorum ipsum quia, which means “sorrow because of itself,” or “sorrow for its own sake”.

So technically, Lorum ipsum doesn’t real mean anything by itself. Bring this up with some computer geeks at a cocktail party and you’ll the be toast of town.

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