A 2023-era "caveman prompt" that instructed ChatGPT to "talk like a caveman and keep it short" was once popular for cutting through verbose, generic responses. The article tested this old prompt against newer models. When asked "Why do airplanes stay in the air?", the caveman version replied "Air push wing. Wing go up. Plane stay sky." However, a prompt asking for an explanation for a "curious 12-year-old" using "everyday language" and "one simple analogy" under "120 words" produced a better, more explanatory answer. For a refund request, the caveman version was too blunt ("Want money back. Product bad. Give refund."), while a prompt specifying a "customer service expert" tone under "150 words, polite but firm" yielded a usable email. The article concludes the old trick still works best for summarization, noting that when a long article was pasted and a caveman-style summary was requested, it performed well.