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19 words only Googlers understand

In the Googleplex, employees know what "dogfood," "GUTS," and "greygler" means.

Every company has its own special lingo that doesn't make sense to outsiders.

Google, with more than 70,000 employees worldwide, is no exception, and has countless unique terms employees use with one another.

Here are 19 words only Googlers will understand:

Plex: Short for the Googleplex, the company's sprawling Mountain View, California, campus

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GBike: The mode of transportation on Google's campus, the GBike is known for its colorful frame.

Stan: In the Googleplex, you'll meet Stan, Google's own statue of a T. rex skeleton. Stan is there to remind the company to never become a dinosaur — at least, that's one theory.

Noogler: If you're new to Google, expect to be called a Noogler. Pronounced "new-gler," these people are identifiable thanks to the Google-colored propeller caps they receive.

TGIF: It does mean "Thank God It's Friday," but it also is the name of the weekly all-hands meeting — confusingly, now held on Thursdays. The hour-long meeting dates back to the early days of Google, but it is now held in a worldwide Google hangout. It's also where Nooglers receive their hats. Here's a throwback picture from a TGIF meeting in 1999:

Googlegeist: This isn't a ghost that haunts the Plex. The Googlegeist is an annual survey in which all of Google's employees are asked to rate their managers and life at Google. While many employees would shy away from an HR questionnaire, more than 90% of Googlers fill it out every year.

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GUTS: This has nothing to do with Googlers' bodies. GUTS is short for Google Universal Ticketing Systems, or where Googlers file tickets about problems that the company can track. It's like an internal 311 system.

Gayglers: Employees who are members of the LGBT community (and their supporters) are known as Gayglers.

Greyglers: Another Googler nickname, Greyglers are Google employees 40 and older (though we'll guess some of those in their 40s aren't sporting gray hairs). One of Google's most prominent Greyglers is its chief internet evangelist — and one of the fathers of the web — Vint Cerf.

Xoogler: A Google employee who leaves the company becomes a Xoogler. A shortened version of ex-Googler, Xoogler is actually pronounced "zoo-gler." There's even a website for them, Xoogler.co.

Doogler: Googlers assign this nickname to employees who bring their dogs into the office, as well as the dogs themselves.

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Jewglers: You get the picture.

Brewgler: The wordplay continues. Brewglers are members of the company's beer interest group. They give each other beer recommendations and do occasional tastings together.

FixIts: FixIts started out as a way for Google engineers to hunker down and focus on back-burner issues. They were originally 24-hour events, but FixIts have evolved into shorter bursts to clear backlogged projects.

Tech Stop: The code name for Google's IT department, Tech Stop fixes employees' computers and is a standard in Google offices worldwide.

20% time: Google allows its engineers to spend 20% of their time working on something other than their main job. In that time, Googlers have dreamed up some of Google's biggest products, including Gmail, Google News, and AdSense.

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Perf: Short for performance review, the annual Perf is what determines whether Googlers rise or fall in the coming year. "I'm dreading Perf!" an employee might say if they had a bad quarter, a former employee told Business Insider.

Dogfood: This dog food isn't for Dooglers — it refers to to a pre-released version of software used for internal testing. The term "dogfooding" to mean "using one's own product" comes from a 1939 story in which a dog-food salesman takes a bite out of a dog biscuit to demonstrate its quality.

Memegen: Googlers have an internal meme generator called Memegen that they use to share inside jokes with each other.

This is an updated version of an article by Biz Carson.

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