Antidepressants or Tolkien • Hacker News Board

Re: Antidepressants or Tolkien

#41

Post by MalcolmDwyer » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 4:39 AM UTC

crypto29 wrote: post #21

saghm wrote: post #16

Two of my favorites of this genre are "Ikea Furniture or Metal Band" and "Drug or Pokemon". I did terribly at the first one since I don't know enough metal I guess, but I aced the latter, despite realizing that "Remoraid" actually does sound more like some sort of join pain cream or something than a pokemon.

Let's not forget one of the first in the genre - "Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer" https://vole.wtf/coder-serial-killer-quiz/

My favorite was "North Korean propaganda or TED talk soundbite?"

There are a few articles about it but the actual quiz doesn't seem to be up anymore.

Re: Antidepressants or Tolkien

#42

Post by TOGoS » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 4:39 AM UTC

Having recently listened to the Lord of the Rings audiobooks (the read by Andy Serkis ones) I thought this was going to be about escaping into fantasy novels as a way of keeping oneself sane without having to resort to drugs. I also found them to be one of the only effective means of occupying my mind as I was trying to fall asleep so that I didn't ruminate myself into insomnia, which of course would leave me in a worse mood the next day.

Re: Antidepressants or Tolkien

#43

Post by steve_adams_86 » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 4:40 AM UTC

blooalien wrote: post #24

I'm really surprised at what a challenge that turned out to be. I was certain I was gonna have no problems distinguishing drugs from Tolkien characters, but I only got 15/24 in the end. Recognized a few obvious brand names and characters, but half the time I had to resort to straight-up guessing. Some of those drug names totally sound like Tolkien characters.

Yeah, wow. It’s been years since I read and watched, but I expected this to be challenging for the uninitiated. That crushed me. I guess I just lost a bunch of nerd cred.

It’s bizarre that I did about as well at getting drug names correct, and I can’t say I’m well versed in those.

Re: Antidepressants or Tolkien

#44

Post by WXLCKNO » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 4:40 AM UTC

diarrhea wrote: post #37

jonny_eh wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment, its content and tone, is why I came here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

Thank you for this lol

Re: Antidepressants or Tolkien

#45

Post by jltsiren » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 4:41 AM UTC

blooalien wrote: post #24

I'm really surprised at what a challenge that turned out to be. I was certain I was gonna have no problems distinguishing drugs from Tolkien characters, but I only got 15/24 in the end. Recognized a few obvious brand names and characters, but half the time I had to resort to straight-up guessing. Some of those drug names totally sound like Tolkien characters.

None of the drug names sounded like Tolkien characters to me. I guess native English speakers are at a disadvantage, because they are more likely to consider the names as they would be pronounced in English. The intended pronunciation is usually close to Classical Latin, which means that pronouncing the names in any other European language is likely closer to the truth. And when you pronounce the names in that language, Tolkien characters and drugs tend to sound different.

Re: Antidepressants or Tolkien

#46

Post by afarviral » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 4:42 AM UTC

If you got a good score, was it due to drug or tolkien knowledge? Or evenly both?

Re: Antidepressants or Tolkien

#47

Post by gymbeaux » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 4:42 AM UTC

geuis wrote: post #30

23 of 24. Missed the last one due to a miss click. (I've read the Silmarillion too much it seems.)

So 24/24

Re: Antidepressants or Tolkien

#48

Post by throwanem » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 4:43 AM UTC

Sildenafil isn't an antidepressant.

Re: Antidepressants or Tolkien

#49

Post by ren_engineer » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 4:45 AM UTC

blooalien wrote: post #24

I'm really surprised at what a challenge that turned out to be. I was certain I was gonna have no problems distinguishing drugs from Tolkien characters, but I only got 15/24 in the end. Recognized a few obvious brand names and characters, but half the time I had to resort to straight-up guessing. Some of those drug names totally sound like Tolkien characters.

it's actually a due to a research field created/popularized by Tolkien

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonaesthetics

all about studying pleasant sounding words, big pharma uses it for naming drugs. "Cellar door" was one of Tolkien's favorite phrases, you can see variations and modifications of it in many fantasy settings

>Tolkien, Lewis, and others have suggested that cellar door's auditory beauty becomes more apparent the more the word is dissociated from its literal meaning, for example, by using alternative spellings such as Selador, Selladore, Celador, Selidor

Re: Antidepressants or Tolkien

#50

Post by nwienert » Wed, Nov 08, 2023, 4:47 AM UTC

throwanem wrote: post #48

Sildenafil isn't an antidepressant.

Side effects may be though ;)