from Hacker News

Antidepressants or Tolkien

by mdturnerphys on 11/8/23, 2:53 AM with 99 comments

  • by blooalien on 11/8/23, 3:54 AM

    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.

  • by saghm on 11/8/23, 3:45 AM

    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.

  • by second_brekkie on 11/8/23, 4:58 AM

    21/24 That was fun, also surprised by the difficulty.

    Kept slipping up on the less known Gondorian kings.

    Also if your a filthy casual like me and cba to re-read the Silmarilion, Nerd of the Rings is a, solid YT channel.

    https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCW0gH2G-cMKAEjEkI4YhnPA

  • by geuis on 11/8/23, 4:06 AM

    23 of 24. Missed the last one due to a miss click.

    (I've read the Silmarillion too much it seems.)

  • by frutiger on 11/8/23, 3:26 AM

    If you’ve read The Silmarillion it’s not too difficult, as Elvish names have common construction patterns and sounds.

  • by whalesalad on 11/8/23, 5:13 AM

    I’ve often wondered - who are the Madison Avenue don Draper crews of the prescription drug world? How do they all create these terrible names, and terrible commercials around them? There’s clearly some consistency and yet it’s all insane.

  • by vaxintar on 11/8/23, 4:31 AM

    23/24

    but there was a few I just got lucky, Clédial got me because I didn't expect a drug to have an accent.

  • by PlunderBunny on 11/8/23, 3:36 AM

    The wonderful McSweeney's Internet Tendency [0] has a lot of this type of humour.

    1. https://www.mcsweeneys.net

  • by xenophon on 11/8/23, 5:03 AM

    Another classic of this genre, brought to you by McSweeney's: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/armed-band-of-thugs-or-m...

  • by isoprophlex on 11/8/23, 3:20 AM

    I never knew sildenafil (marketed as viagra) acted as an antidepressant too, lol

  • by TOGoS on 11/8/23, 4:39 AM

    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.

  • by erickhill on 11/8/23, 6:16 AM

    Reminds me of the classic Sporcle quiz: "Drug or Pokemon?" https://www.sporcle.com/games/LinkinMarc/drug_or_pokemon

    (and just as baffling)

  • by g-b-r on 11/8/23, 4:19 AM

    How not finishing the Silmarillion comes back to bite you

  • by dividendpayee on 11/8/23, 3:36 AM

    Did anyone do worse than me? I got 11/24 :S

  • by rossdavidh on 11/8/23, 4:02 AM

    21/24, and I have to say that there were a lot more tough calls than I expected. One wonders if reading JRRT's works has been tested as an antidepressant. I think "Farmer Giles of Ham" was pretty upbeat...

  • by edgarvaldes on 11/8/23, 3:32 AM

    Like that classic Pokemon or Big Data

  • by ChrisArchitect on 11/8/23, 3:34 AM

    (2020)

    From it's previous home on https://antidepressantsortolkien.now.sh/

  • by d0odk on 11/8/23, 4:18 AM

    Nardil is unfair

  • by ivraatiems on 11/8/23, 4:53 AM

    For anyone who is looking for information on the different kinds of antidepressants mentioned in this game (which I failed most completely despite being broadly familiar), here is a great article from Dr. Scott Siskind (aka Scott Alexander of SlateStarCodex/AstralCodexTen): https://lorienpsych.com/2021/06/05/depression/

    I am not a huge fan of Siskind on all things but he has a great ability to explain complex topics simply when he is an expert, and he is on this.

  • by Obscurity4340 on 11/8/23, 3:10 PM

    How is Sildenafil (Viagra) an antidepressant? Never mind, don't answer that

  • by piersolenski on 11/9/23, 9:04 PM

  • by hdhdhegdv on 11/8/23, 3:33 AM

    Wtf I got sildenafil which isn’t an antidepressant or tolkien

  • by bigmattystyles on 11/8/23, 3:31 AM

  • by lIl-IIIl on 11/8/23, 8:55 AM

    From the tweet that inspired this game:

    "Three rings to block reuptake of neurotransmitters And to the post-synaptic receptor bind them."

  • by xivzgrev on 11/8/23, 6:09 AM

    18/24 - at some point there was a certain pattern to the medications. But then it broke and I got 4 in a row wrong

  • by throwanem on 11/8/23, 4:43 AM

    Sildenafil isn't an antidepressant.

  • by cl0ckt0wer on 11/8/23, 3:25 AM

    Cledíal got me

  • by afarviral on 11/8/23, 4:42 AM

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

  • by speed_spread on 11/8/23, 3:46 AM

    Why not both? Speedrun the damned ring back to fucking Mordor. Up yours, Sauron!

  • by nindalf on 11/8/23, 4:36 AM

    21/24.

    I’ll atone by re-reading now.

  • by asimpleusecase on 11/8/23, 5:32 AM

    20 out of 24 not too bad.

  • by trs83 on 11/8/23, 3:52 AM

    This is beautiful.

  • by leed25d on 11/8/23, 3:12 AM

    Enigma

  • by bebop404 on 11/8/23, 5:16 PM

    15/24, so only slightly better than a coin flip.

    The names with tildes in them were giveaways, though.