Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

If you are reading the title above and thinking about searching for your old Latin textbook in order to translate, don’t bother. While the individual words are mostly from classical Latin, the sentence is gibberish. Complete nonsense. 

So now maybe you are saying to yourself, “I feel like I’ve seen these words somewhere before,” and it’s quite likely you have. They are the opening words commonly used in what is called greeking, or in this particular example, this type of greeking is specifically referred to as a lorem ipsum (more on this below).

Greeking refers to the practice of using nonsensical or gibberish text that resembles actual text but is not readable. This text is often made up of repeated phrases or a jumble of letters that simulates the appearance of text without conveying any meaning. This practice is employed in typesetting and graphic design for previewing layouts, or before the actual text is available and the layout needs to be completed. Greeking is particularly useful when you want to assess the visual flow of a design, such as checking how text wraps around images or fits into columns. The intent is to draw the reader’s attention away from reading the text, to instead focus on the design layout.

The term “greeking” originates from the appearance of the placeholder text as being incomprehensible, as in “it’s all Greek to me.” While the etymology of the term only goes back to the early 1960s, the use of greeking isn’t a recent practice. Its origins go back to the very beginnings of the printed word in the early late 15^th and early 16^th centuries. Most early books were published in Latin, so early examples of greeking used Latin terms. When working on a book’s layout, a typesetter would grab an assortment of individual moveable types (also called sorts), and use them to form random Latin words. This was much quicker than trying to form full structured sentences and paragraphs. The resulting layout would then be evaluated for form and color, and when satisfactory, the real text would be substituted in.

Other, more modern examples of greeking use letter combinations that are completely random and don’t form words at all. This style of greeking is generally called jabberwocky text; taken from Lewis Carroll’s book of the same name.

Below is an example of the most commonly used lorem ipsum. Until very recently, within the past thirty years, it was thought to just be a jumble of words thrown together. But then Latin scholar, Professor Richard McClintock of Hampden–Sydney College in Virginia, traced the text back to a passage from the 1914 Loeb Classical Library edition of De finibus bonorum et malorum (“On the Ends of Good and Evil”), an ethical treatise written by the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero, circa 45 BCE.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing 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

The initial word, lorem, is not even a real Latin word. As it turns out, the first word in Cicero’s work being used for this citing (section 1.10.32) was dolorem, meaning pain. However, in the Loeb edition, the word occurred at a page break, with do on one page and lorem on the following page, and thus only lorem was selected. The remainder of the text is just a scrambling of the passage from Cicero, with certain words added, removed, or altered, so the result is improper, nonsensical Latin.

The first widespread modern use of lorem ipsum occurred in the 1960s when it was used in advertisements for Letraset dry-transfer lettering sheets. In the mid-1980s, lorem ipsum made its way into the digital world, being employed by the software company Aldus, in graphics and word-processing templates for its desktop publishing application, PageMaker. Its use has now spread to multiple word-processing applications and web content managers, such as Joomia! and WordPress.

If you feel so inclined, visit https://www.lipsum.com and you can create your own lorem ipsum. See below a paragraph I created in just single click. Who knew gibberish could be such fun?

Fusce suscipit nec nibh sed ornare. Donec sollicitudin nunc est, in efficitur felis molestie at. Integer consequat blandit egestas. Fusce et turpis at neque fermentum auctor ac id urna. Ut venenatis libero et sapien varius, id maximus ligula tristique. Nam sed luctus nunc, vitae ultricies felis. Maecenas ut velit mauris. Quisque leo odio, convallis sit amet vehicula sed, lobortis id sapien. Cras mollis sem ut libero commodo blandit. Vivamus convallis magna eget mi pretium auctor. Ut est lectus, volutpat quis volutpat et, facilisis sit amet elit. Maecenas sapien urna, vulputate eu vestibulum id, tristique nec ipsum. Nulla euismod posuere consectetur. Quisque vitae enim vitae nisl fringilla ornare luctus ut metus. Nam non dictum dolor.

It’s a Rare Moon…

“Yeah, we all shine on, like the moon, and stars, and the sun.”  John Lennon

Tonight, those of you who venture out under an open sky after darkness sets in, will be treated to a supermoon—the second of four supermoons this summer. It will also be the first full moon of two during August (a blue moon month), and the first of two sturgeon moons in August. So, I felt this would be a good time to talk about the various events of our moon.

First of all, it might be best to begin with a short discussion of capitalization. Is it the moon, or the Moon, or even The Moon? You can find style guides on the internet that cite as correct any of one, two, or even all three uses. I usually refer to the Chicago Manual of Style (15^th edition) to answer these types of questions.

The Moon and Sun both have the unique position of being both our Moon and our Sun, and also one of many moons or suns. It’s this dual role that mucks things up. If our moon was called George, it would all be so much easier.

Let’s quickly dispense with the use of a capitalized The. This isn’t needed, so never capitalize the when preceding moon, sun, or earth.

The next part is the tricky one. There are generally only two instances in which Sun, Moon, and Earth are capitalized, and this sentence actually points out one of those two instances. When any of these three celestial bodies is mentioned in a sentence with one or more other celestial bodies, all of the names should be treated as a proper noun and be capitalized. Another example would be, “the Moon is about one-half the size of Mars.” The Chicago Manual of Style does say that when the use of sun or moon is clearly referring to our sun or moon, the capitalization can be omitted. But this is pretty subjective advice, so I just stick with the using capitals when other celestial objects are mentioned.

The other instance is when the use sun, moon, or earth is cited in a technical or scientific instance. For example, “the astronauts are expected to return to Earth this evening,” or “the Moon is full of small craters that have not diminished significantly due to the lack of an atmosphere,” or “the Sun is expected to have a very high level of solar flares this summer.” In this case, when talking about the earth, the can usually be omitted.

Okay, now that we’ve gotten that small, but important, point out of the way, let’s turn our attention back to the moon, full moons, sturgeon moons, and supermoons. To begin, what is a supermoon? The technical definition is when the Moon is at 90% or greater of its average closest approach to Earth, AND the Moon is full (some scientist will also include a new moon in this definition). A supermoon can also be called a perigee moon; the perigee being that point in an orbit around Earth that is closest to Earth, and a supermoon is sometimes referred to as a super-moon or super moon.

We had our first supermoon of this year on July 3, and two more are coming on August 30 and September 29 (all these dates apply to North America). Most years include three or four supermoons, but there can be as few as two or as many as five.

So why the big fuss? Well, a supermoon is impressive because of its appeared size (the Moon isn’t changing in size, it just looks bigger because it’s closer to Earth). The very largest supermoons are up to 14% closer to Earth than the Moon’s average distance. And here’s the big kicker: a supermoon is up to 30% brighter than a normal moon (sometimes referred to as a micromoon).

Much more uncommon than supermoons are blue moons. A blue moon is typically defined as the second full moon occurring in a month in which there are two full moons. This isn’t the traditional definition of blue moon, and was only added sometime in the 19^th century, but it is the most common definition now in use. The traditional definition is the third full moon within a season, such as autumn or winter, having four full moons.

The moon’s full cycle is 29.5 days, so blue moons only come along about every 2.5 years (more specifically, 7 times in a 19 year Metonic cycle). In a figurative sense, a blue moon is something that is rare, or something that occurs infrequently. So this month of August having two full moons is as rare as a blue moon, both literally and figuratively. 

A close relative to a blue moon is a black moon. This is an informal term only in recent use and has several different definitions, as follows: 1. the second new moon appearing in a month having two new moons; 2. the third new moon in a season having four new moons; 3. the absence of a new moon in February, and 4. the absence of a full moon in February.

Full moons have long garnered distinct individual names. Harvest moon and hunter’s moon are two of the better-known names. These names have been found in many cultures throughout the world, including Native American cultures, many of which were adopted by early American colonists, and were later incorporated into various almanacs. Hindus celebrate many full moon occurrences with festivals. Today, there still exist multiple moon names for full moons in the various months. They are too numerous to name them all here.

A few full moon names that are tied to times of the year, but not specific to a month include the long night’s moon, which is the last full moon of the year and the one occurring nearest to the winter solstice. Another is ice moon which refers to the first full moon of the new year. A harvest moon is the full moon occurring closest to the autumnal equinox, and is also called a barley moon, or full corn moon. The next moon following a harvest moon is called a hunter’s moon.

In August, the most common full moon name is sturgeon moon. This is the name used in the Farmer’s Almanac and comes to us from Native American tribes around the Great Lakes region, and is associated with the traditional annual abundance of sturgeons during this month. Other August full moons are called: cow buffalo moon, red moon, corn moon, green corn moon, herb moon, grain moon, and dog moon.

So when you are gazing out at the supermoon later this evening, you can rest assured that your knowledge of full moons as been exponentially increased. Just pray for clear skies.

The power of fear, and the triumph of words.

If I asked you to think of something or someone whose name is so terrible, so odious, that you could not even mention it, what would you think of? I’m guessing that many of you would come up with the evil character in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series; namely, Lord Voldemort, or his alias dictus, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”

For very different reasons, the term “YHWH” or “Yahweh” was the Hebrew term used by Jews for the God of Abraham. Historically, it was considered a profound lack of respect just to mention the name of God except by high priests on very holy days, so Jews often reverted to Adonia, meaning my Lord, or HaShem, meaning the Name.

In some places like Australia, North Africa, southern India, and Siberia, for certain cultural groups, the utterance of a recently dead person’s name is highly taboo.  And as children we are taught that in polite society there are certain swear words not to be used, which we often replace with euphemisms – a blander form of of the word. In fact, many of our mild swear words, such as Sam Hill for the devil, are euphemisms. Most of us couldn’t get through a day without using a few good euphemisms. Go ahead and try and you will see what I mean.

But we are straying afield from the original thought. What word would one use for a situation where the mere mention of something terrible and evil is too repugnant for thought, something unmentionable…something unspeakable? Could you provide an answer? Well, there is a word for that, and it’s infandous – referring to something being too repugnant to be spoken or expressed. So next time someone mentions Lord Voldemort’s name, just make a grimace and let them know that name is just too infandous to be uttered.

Show me the Carfax!

Yes, show me the carfax.  No, I’m not starting a new policy of advertising on my site.  This is just today’s “There’s A Word for That?” word.

A number of years ago I found myself in London over a long weekend during a business trip.  So, I decided to wake up early, head down to Paddington Station and catch a train out to Oxford to see the sites.  I had never been and had always wanted to visit the university that had produced (at the time) 24 British prime ministers, including Gladstone and Margaret Thatcher, numerous poet laureates and so many Nobel Prize winners that it’s incredible to fathom (47!), T.E. Lawrence (a/k/a Lawrence of Arabia), J.R.R. Tolkien, and most importantly, Hugh Grant.

The weather was superb (for England), the people were incredibly nice, and the university was everything you would expect.  If you ever visit, be sure to stop by the Bodleian Library; one of the most beautiful in the world.  Before entering the library, you are still required to pledge an oral oath that you will follow the library’s rules.

In the center of town, located at the intersection of St. Aldate’s, Cornmarket Street, Queen Street, and High Street is Carfax Tower.  This nondescript tower is all that remains of St. Martin’s Church, formerly the City Church of Oxford where all the town’s important denizens worshiped.   There’s not really much of historical importance to this tower, and with the 38 colleges of Oxford being the prime reason most people visit here, it’s easily overlooked.  The tower is like so many others that are found throughout England, with one exception.  The tower’s name lent itself to a distinctly new British word (well, it was new in the late Middle Ages.)  The tower’s name is an anglisized corruption of the French word carrefour, meaning crossroads.  Having been build only about 60 years after William the Conqueror’s conquest, many placenames throughout England were being given French names.  This tower, however, took on a name that was French in origin but English in execution.  Given the tower’s location at the center of one of the most important cities in Europe, it’s understandable that it adopted a name having the meaning of crossroads.  After all, great university towns were crossroads of not just important streets but where important ideas and knowledge intersected.

The term carfax eventually came into common usage as any intersection of four roads, especially the main intersection of a town.  Sort of the British version of our American town square, without the square.  Today, the term is largely out of use, having been replaced with GPS’s and Baedekers.  But next time you’re in the U.K. visiting some quaint British town (or Scottish or Welsh town, for that matter), and you find yourself in a taxi wanting to visit the town’s center, just say, “show me the carfax!”

The many styles of facial hair…

About 25 years ago (B.C. – “before children;” as opposed to A.D. – “after dependents”), my wife and I took a long vacation with another couple to Alaska.  I won’t bore you with the incredible details, but if you ever get a chance to go – do!  The other husband and I decided to grow out beards in keeping with the trip’s theme of hitting the back country, and soon after returning, and upon my wife’s insistence, I shaved off my hairy deportment, never to grow it out again.  Until recently, that is.  It was one of those torpid weekends and I had neglected my circadian routine of a close shave, and when Monday morning arrived, I continued in the same vein.  And now I am once again sporting a perpetual four-day growth.

All this is just my way of introducing today’s “There’s a Word for That” for the letter B.  Today’s word is barbula and is defined as a small beard grown just below the lip, extending down to the upper part of the chin.  You see a lot of guys sporting this beard style these days and mistakenly calling it a soul patch.  Technically speaking, and this is without any authoritative source to back me up, a soul patch is a very small patch of hair grown just below the lower lip.  A barbula typically extends further down and across the area below the mouth.  The soul patch is a term that comes out of the 1950s and was originally popular with jazz trumpet musicians because of the comfort it provided when using the mouthpiece, but soon the style was adopted by beatniks and artists and is still associated with having a literary or musical bent.  Barbula comes to us from the word barbule, being that part of an armored helmet that protects the cheeks and chin.

There are a number of styles of beards that have their own names, and in fact the art of growing and trimming a beard has its own term – pogonotrophy.  A common style is the Van Dyke, a mustache that extends down to fully cover the area below the mouth and around the chin.  This style has been popular since its naming for the 17th century Flemish artist.  Often the mustache is long and curled at the ends.  When the beard is trimmed to a distinct point below the chin, it is more appropriately called a pike devant – think Three Musketeers.  Take away the mustache and you are left with a goatee.  The goatee has been around since ancient times where it was often used when depicting the god Pan.  The Christians appropriated the style and applied it in paintings of Satan during the medieval and Renaissance periods.  The practice has been extended to this day.  My favorite is Robert De Niro in Angel Heart who sported a very full goatee while playing the character Lew Cyphre (get it?  Lucifer)

Extending the barbula even further down to cover the chin, and you end up with a royale.  Take the classic Van Dyke and trim off the area below the mustache that connects the mustache with area below the mouth and you’re left with an imperial.  Take a goatee and extend the lower ends up the jawline about half-way towards the earlobes and you have a balbo.  An anchor combines elements of the goatee and balbo; it’s a thin strip that flows from just below the lower lip to the base of the chin, and then extends in a thin line up the jawline to meet the sideburns.

And what discussion about beards would be complete without mentioning sideburns; those hair extensions in front of the ears corruptly named for the Civil War general Ambrose Burnside whose extremely odd looking style of long, bushy sideburns that extended down the face to connect with an equally bushy mustache, but having a clean-shaven chin?  Trim off Mr. Burnside’s mustache and the remaining bushy sideburns are call muttonchops or alternately, dundrearies, an eponym named for a character in Tom Taylor’s Our American Cousin, best known as the play being attended by Abraham Lincoln the night he was assassinated.  And for those keeping record, Lincoln wore a goatee.

As long as there are sharp razors and good imaginations, men will be coming up with new ways to sport their beards and we will be right here to note any new words that might appear.

He’s Back! And with lots of new Words to explore…

After taking a multi-year hiatus, I thought I would gen back up my little blog concerning uncommon words. Today’s entry into the “There’s a Word for That?” category begins with the letter “A” and is the first in an alphabetical sequence that will eventually stretch out to “Z.”

Today’s word is one that we are all familiar with but has a distinct, although related, meaning to its more common usage. The word is accolade, and in our uncommon meaning is defined as a ceremonial greeting consisting of an embrace and a kiss on both cheeks. This formal type of greeting is still in use in many cultures and not an unusual site when watching our president meet other heads of state.

In more common usage, accolade is an expression of approval or praise, and therefore it’s easy to see that the two meanings are related. During WWI, President Wilson instituted a presidential certificate honoring those service men and women who died or were wounded in battle, calling the certificate an Accolade. The certificate was used again during WWII and the Korean War and was later extended to non-military civilians killed or injured in service associated with the military. Receipt of an Accolade is high praise, indeed.

Originally, the term applied to the service of conferring a knighthood, consisting of an embrace and slight blow to each shoulder with the flat edge of a sword. One can easily see the direct link from this earliest usage to today’s embrace, replacing the sword blow with a more benign kiss to each cheek.

In some places in the world, the tradition of a two-cheek kiss has been modified. In France today, it’s generally still a two-cheek affair, but if you really want to show your affection, it can be repeated, thereby extending the accolade to a four-cheek engagement. In Belgium, for reasons unknown, it’s a three-cheek kiss. In our post-PC world of sexual hypertension, the embrace is often omitted and only the kisses are used. Even the kisses themselves are often seen as not making contact; a sort of air kiss. Or just dispense with the kiss itself and make a slight movement to each cheek while repeating the words “kiss-kiss.” To those whose concern is over the health aspects of an accolade, you will be relieved to know that the International Forum on Home Hygiene concluded that cheek kissing spreads less germs that a simple handshake. Yes, someone actually studied this…I don’t make this stuff up. And for those who pay close attention to such matters, Judith Martin, otherwise known as Miss Manners, says that you should always aim for the right cheek first. In our rush-rush world, sometimes the two-cheek kiss is substituted for a more efficient one-cheek execution; sort of a kiss-off to the receiver. You might even see the Western hand-shake combined with the two-cheek kiss; often even accompanied by a sort-of shoulder bump. This type of greeting would seem to cover all the bases.

So, the next time you see our president on the receiving end of a hug and two wet slobbers to each cheek, you will know that he received an accolade, even if the media doesn’t shower him with accolades for his political performance.

A penny for your thoughts

Continuing yesterday’s “There’s a Word for That?” theme of words with a French root that begin with R, comes today’s entry whose definition will be instantly recognizable but whose term might not be.  It comes to us from the French word for roll.

rouleau n. a roll of coins wrapped in a cylindrical paper form.

Ruelle

Today’s “There’s a Word for That?” word is:

ruelle n. [Fr.] a circular driveway at a private residence; from the French rue for street or ruelle for narrow lane.

Flu, schmu…what should really scare you

nosocomial adj. pertaining to an infection contracted as a result of being in a hospital.

While we’re all fixated on the current outbreak of swine flu, think about this – last year, more than 100,000 Americans died as a result of infections contracted while in the hospital.  In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control, hospital infections are now the fourth leading cause of disease-related deaths in the U.S., only behind heart disease, cancer, and strokes.  What’s particularly troublesome about this statistic is that the CDC estimates that 75% of these deaths were preventable.  Maybe hospitals should be handing out those surgical masks that everyone’s wearing these days to their patients as they enter the hospital.

Yealing

It’s easy to say that another is older or younger than oneself, but what if they are the same age?

yealing n. [Scottish] a person who is the same age as oneself.