“It’s all Greek to me” takes on a totally different meaning in the creative field. Here we look at what “Greeking it” means in copywriting and when and how you should use “Greek” copy.
What Is “Greek” in Copy?
The phrase “Greek it” is a misnomer. What it refers to is “lorem ipsum” that, yes, sounds a lot like it might be Greek. Lorem ipsum is actually just gibberish—an infinitely long string of gibberish that usually begins with the words “lorem ipsum.” It’s is simply dummy text used in the printing and typesetting industry. The key is that none of the words are real or readable. Lorem ipsum has a normal distribution of letters compared to “insert copy here,” thus making it look like readable English.
Fun fact: Lorem ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC: The Extremes of Good and Evil by Cicero. Hope that helps you in your next pub quiz night!
Why Use “Greek” Copy?
But why would a designer put in gibberish instead of real copy? Answer: When they don’t want people to focus on the words.
The Benefit to the Reviewer
Sometimes a designer may want to give a client or product manager a feel for the layout apart from the copy that goes in it. At other times, they might want to give a feel for layout before the copy is even done.
In those cases, they can put in lorem ipsum where the actual copy would be. It gives the eye an idea of what the layout will look like with copy in it. But because it’s not real copy, the client or product manager’s eye isn’t naturally drawn to read the copy. They can truly focus on the layout.
The Benefit to the Copywriter
Lorem ipsum can also be helpful to you if you’re writing longer-form copy and need to know how long to make your work. Your designer can flow lorem ipsum into the space, do a word count of the words that fit in there, and then give you a rough estimate of how much you need to write.
Think of lorem ipsum as the placeholder for the brilliant copy that you’ll produce. It’s not Greek, but it sure is great.
Struggling to create a copy doc? Here’s a template for what it should look like >>
Your Turn!
Are there any other terms you’ve heard that you didn’t understand? Let us know in the comments below!
Last Updated on July 18, 2023
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