Definition

That mysterious period before written records where everything is basically guesswork, or metaphorically, whatever chaotic nonsense happened before your company created documentation.

Example Usage

The IT director described the legacy codebase as 'prehistory'—nobody knows how it works, and we're terrified to touch it.

Source: Historical and academic terminology

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Intermediate

fellowship

In academia and medicine, a prestigious post-graduate training position that lets you specialize further while earning slightly more than minimum wage. It's also a fancy word for a group united by common interests, though this meaning has been somewhat corrupted by corporate retreat facilitators. The academic version involves years of intense study; the hobbyist version involves monthly meetings and perhaps matching t-shirts.

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Final Exam

A comprehensive test at the end of the semester that theoretically covers everything but practically ignores the first six weeks you all forgot.

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retention rate

The percentage of first-year students who return for their second year, serving as a key metric of institutional success or, more honestly, how well a school prevents freshmen from realizing they made a mistake. Administrators obsess over it; marketing departments inflate it.

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dead week

The week immediately before final exams when no new material is taught and no major assignments are due, theoretically allowing students to study. In reality, faculty ignore the policy and students cram everything they avoided all semester.

🎓 Education / Academia
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Nothing Gold Can Stay

Either Robert Frost's melancholic poem about the fleeting nature of beauty and innocence, or New Found Glory's 2001 album that soundtracked every emo kid's teenage angst. Both remind you that good things don't last, but at least one has sick guitar riffs.

🎓 Education / Academia
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Midterm

An exam given in the middle of a semester to assess learning so far and provide early evidence that you're failing before you've completely given up.

🎓 Education / Academia

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See “prehistory” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

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Intermediate

dilute

The art of watering down your ownership stake in a company, usually because someone with deeper pockets decided your equ...