(Teacher/Professor): Hey it would be an awsome April Fool's joke if we got them (students) to write 5000-15000 words on something completely pointless and make it worth half of their end result!
Other teacher/professor: yeah! omg that would be amazing let's call it a DISSERTATION...that'll get 'em
When you spend a very long time at the computer, working on your dissertation (or other big project) but come away feeling like you have achieved nothing, but you are also no longer able to function normally. Usually cured by alcohol.
An idea that was spawned from the evil nasty dissertation monsters to make students fail university and waste three years of their life and lots of money
I have a 15000 word dissertation to hand in, in less than 72 hours Argh !
When you devote so much time to your dissertation (or related projects and research and efforts to put off writing) that you are no longer interested in romantic relationships/sex.