One of the things I love most about Severance is how it builds an intricate corporate dystopia with its own vocabulary. Learning these terms completely enhanced my viewing experience—and revealed just how thoroughly Lumon has constructed an alternate reality for its severed employees.
I've compiled everything here. Consider this your onboarding manual. Your outie has approved this reading.
The Complete A-Z Glossary
Break Room - The punishment area that still haunts me. Employees must recite an apology until deemed "sincere." This can last hours or days. "I am sorry for the behavior that I have exhibited."
Clean Slate - Protocol to completely wipe an innie's memories. Effectively kills the work personality. This is the nuclear option, and it's terrifying.
Code Detectors - Sensors tracking severed employees via their implants. These prevent innies from leaving the severed floor. The walls are watching.
Defiant Jazz - Music considered inappropriate for the severed floor. Represents forbidden free expression. I love that someone at Lumon decided jazz was too rebellious.
Egg Bar - Cafeteria offering that rewards good performance. The way innies get excited about eggs really got to me. Small privileges feel huge when you have nothing.
Handbook - Kier Eagan's writings, treated as corporate scripture at Lumon. Basically their Bible.
Innie - The work personality created by severance. Knows only Lumon, has no outside memories. These are the characters we root for.
Lumon - The mysterious corporation founded by Kier Eagan. Its full purpose remains unclear (and deeply unsettling).
MDR - Macrodata Refinement. The department where our main characters work their mysterious, possibly meaningless jobs.
Music Dance Experience (MDE) - Reward for meeting quota. A sad five minutes of dancing alone. This scene broke me a little.
O&D - Optics and Design. Another severed department that handles visual materials. Different floor, same corporate nightmare.
Outie - The outside personality. Maintains normal life, has no work memories. These people chose this, which is the horror.
Overtime Contingency - Emergency protocol to wake an innie in the outside world. This becomes VERY important.
Perpetuity Wing - Museum dedicated to Kier Eagan's legacy. Treated with religious reverence. The cult-like atmosphere is not subtle.
Revolving - Reversing the severance procedure. Supposedly dangerous, possibly impossible. The hope and the threat.
Severance - The procedure that splits work and personal memories via brain implant. The premise that launched a thousand nightmares.
Tempers - The five emotional categories (Woe, Frolic, Dread, Malice, Bliss) used in MDR work. Each one feels wrong.
Waffle Party - The ultimate reward for exceptional performance. I won't spoil what this actually entails, but... yeah.
Wellness Session - Psychological check-ins with Ms. Casey using scripted affirmations. "You are a person, you are valued..."
Test Your Lumon Vocabulary
Think you know your Severance terminology? I built a Lexicon Refinement game that tests your knowledge with Wordle-style challenges using Lumon vocabulary.
Consider it a Wellness Session for your brain.
Play Lexicon Refinement
Experience this game yourself - can you survive?