Quick brown fox

Posted by R. Berg on March 02, 2005

In Reply to: Party? posted by Steve E. on March 02, 2005

: : : Where does these phrases come from?

: : : now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party...

: : : the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog..

: : : slicker than snot on a door knob...eewww...

: :
: : The two first phrases are often used as practice sentences by typists, occasionally as font jobs (formerly) by printers. The second sentence has all the letters of the alphabet, which is handy for some purposes. Who first used them? No idea. Of course, snot is slippery (slick), and on a doorknob this is particularly evident as one tries to turn the knob. And thick snot dries out rather slowly, to add to the torture. SS

: The second phrase is "dogs" (plural) not "dog", then each letter of the alphabet is represented. It was used as a training exercise by people learning how to typewrite in the days when manual typewriters existed (Ah yes, I remember it well!). The focus was on learning how to move you fingers to get to some of the more difficult keys, etc. Very similar in concept to the vocal exercises (do, re, me, fa, so, la, te, do) used by people who sing.

The version I remember gets the S in differently: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."

There's also "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs." It's shorter.