diff --git a/sh/.config/sh/env b/sh/.config/sh/env
index a555ab4..a1210e3 100644
--- a/sh/.config/sh/env
+++ b/sh/.config/sh/env
@@ -13,9 +13,6 @@ export PATH="$PATH:$XDG_BIN_HOME"
 ## BEGIN GLOBAL ENV VARS     ##
 ###############################
 
-# if we forgot to set it treat bash as default
-export SHELL=${SHELL:-/bin/bash}
-
 # will be picked up by many programs as notes directory
 export WIKIROOT="${WIKIROOT:-$HOME/documents/notes}"
 # will be picked up by many programs as library root directory
@@ -41,3 +38,9 @@ export PATH="$PATH:$GOPATH/bin"
 ## LANG LOCALE UTF-8
 export LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"
 export LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
+
+# if we forgot to set it treat bash as default
+export SHELL=${SHELL:-/bin/bash}
+
+# if terminfo for our terminal emulator does not exist fall back to xterm
+[ "$(find /usr/share/terminfo -name "$TERMINAL*" | wc -l)" -eq 0 ] && export TERM=xterm