“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[ng] velit, sed quia non numquam [do] eius modi tempora inci[di]dunt, 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?”

Aldus Corporation, which later merged with Adobe Systems, helped bring Lorem Ipsum into the information age with its 1985 flagship software Aldus PageMaker. The program came bundled with Lorem Ipsum dummy text to help with laying out page content, and other word processors like Microsoft Word followed suit. More recently the growth of web design has helped proliferate Lorem Ipsum across the internet as a placeholder for laying out websites and blogs– and in some cases the final content (don’t let that be you!).

Five centuries later Lorem Ipsum experienced a surge in popularity with the release of Letraset’s dry-transfer sheets. These sheets of lettering could be rubbed on anywhere and were quickly adopted by graphic artists, printers, architects, and advertisers for their professional look and ease of use. Letraset included Lorem Ipsum passages in a panoply of fonts, styles, and sizes, solidifying the Latin-esque phrase’s place in the print and graphics industry. Those with an eye for detail will have even caught a tribute to the classic text in an episode of Mad Men (S6E1 around 1:18:55 for anyone that didn’t).

The classic “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet…” passage is attributed to a remixing of the Roman philosopher Cicero’s 45 BC text De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (“On the Extremes of Good and Evil”). More specifically, the passage is thought to originate from sections 1.10.32 – 33 of his text, with the most notable portion excerpted below: