Sean brought this to my attention, the blog-published story of Lorem Ipsum. Most of you have probably seen it as the standard filler text in sample templates from Microsoft PowerPoint. I’d seen it used in journalistic circles as filler for “to be completed” sections of dummied-up versions of magazines, but my sparse knowledge of it predated the web. So thank you Sean.
The way my mind works, the Lorem Ipsum reference took me back to Calcutta’s quiz league of the 1970s. I remember being asked who George Spelvin was; it wasn’t long after that when we were asked what the English equivalent of Spelvin was.
So, for those of you who hadn’t heard it before, here are the links to George Spelvin and Walter Plinge. I believe there used to be an equivalent for airline staff deadheading, but the use of fictional names in that context fell away for obvious reasons.