diff --git a/nvim/.config/nvim/plugin/thesaurus_query.vim b/nvim/.config/nvim/plugin/thesaurus_query.vim
index ae46eb1..9dfa309 100644
--- a/nvim/.config/nvim/plugin/thesaurus_query.vim
+++ b/nvim/.config/nvim/plugin/thesaurus_query.vim
@@ -2,10 +2,17 @@
 let g:tq_map_keys=0
 
 " set custom mthesaur file if we have it
-if exists("$XDG_CONFIG_HOME")
-  let g:tq_mthesaur_file=getenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME") . "/nvim/thesaurus/mthesaur.txt"
+if exists('$XDG_DATA_HOME')
+  let g:tq_mthesaur_file='$XDG_DATA_HOME' . '/nvim/thesaurus/mthesaur.txt'
 else
-  let g:tq_mthesaur_file=expand("~/.config/nvim/thesaurus/mthesaur.txt")
+  let g:tq_mthesaur_file=expand('~/.local/share/nvim/thesaurus/mthesaur.txt')
+endif
+
+" download if we don't
+if !filereadable(glob(g:tq_mthesaur_file))
+  echom 'No thesaurus file found, attempting to download in background...'
+  execute '!curl -fLo ' . expand(g:tq_mthesaur_file) . ' --create-dirs
+    \ http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3202/files/mthesaur.txt'
 endif
 
 let g:tq_language=['en', 'de']