You Can Go With This OR You Can Go With That

December 11, 2017 6:38 AM

Among internet-based quizzes, some of the most interesting ask you to decide which of two categories various similar-sounding-or-looking things fit into. John Atkinson's very literate comic Wrong Hands has gotten into it with...
Renaissance Artist OR Coffee?
Greek Philosopher OR Ailment?
Font OR Dog Breed?
and he's not the only one...

The Awl has...
Edith Wharton Quote OR Excerpt from “Girls” Review?
'Ask Reddit' OR Sociopath Quiz Question?
Disruptive Mattress Company OR Celebrity Baby Name?
Dog OR Some Other Animal (Wolf/Bear/Fox/Badger etc.)?

Slate gets more serious with Headline From Breitbart OR 1920s KKK Newspaper?

While the website for the nostalgia TV channel MeTV (which has some quiz every day) lightens up with...
Who Did It - Gilligan OR Screech (from Saved By the Bell)?
Who Said It - Spock OR The Fonz?
Who Did It - Opie Taylor OR Beaver Cleaver?
Are These Creatures from 'The Twilight Zone' OR 'The Outer Limits'?
Are These Aliens from 'Lost in Space' OR 'Star Trek'?
and finally: Batman Villain Costume OR Beverly Hillbillies' Jethro Dressing Up?

And the trivia quiz site Sporcle has quite a few Either/Or quizes (note: all with time limits because that's how they Sporc), including...
Composer OR Mathematician?
Character in James Bond Movie OR Austin Powers Movie?
U.S. Cities Starting with Port OR Fort?
Philosopher OR Formula 1 Driver?
Superheroes - DC/Justice League OR Marvel/Avengers?
Movie Quotes - Star Wars OR Spaceballs?
Science Fiction - 'Hard' OR 'Soft'? (does not include Star Wars OR Spaceballs)
Rapper OR Garbage Pail Kid ('90s satirical trading cards)?
Cheese OR Font?
and the most important one to know the difference: Gun OR Ice Cream?

posted by oneswellfoop (21 comments total)

The classic Prescription Drug or Pokemon is another excellent entry in this genre.
posted by vogon_poet at 7:23 AM on December 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

I love these!

I did one for the students a couple years ago:
International Relations Monograph OR Heavy Metal Album
posted by aspersioncast at 7:47 AM on December 11, 2017 [11 favorites]

I love these, but I'm unfortunately going to have to be "that guy", and point out "Act-chew-ally Diogenes is both a philosopher and an ailment (/ syndrome)"
posted by Greasy Eyed Gristle Man at 7:52 AM on December 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

The inimitable Desert Bus for Hope team did a whole series of these. You can play along at home!

There used to be a "My Little Pony or Porn Star?" quiz on the (now vanished?) Brunching Shuttlecocks website. The content of that specific quiz appears to be duplicated here. (Not exactly NSFW, but not exactly SFW either...)
posted by sourcequench at 7:57 AM on December 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Pokemon or Big Data is honestly difficult even as someone with a passing knowledge of both topics.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 8:04 AM on December 11, 2017 [8 favorites]

Web 2.0 site name, or Don Martin sound effect?
posted by ocschwar at 8:45 AM on December 11, 2017 [4 favorites]

I don't have a link, but (MeFi's own) Lore had "My Little Pony or Pornstar". If I recall, I would have done better by flipping a coin.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 10:25 AM on December 11, 2017

If, like me, you feel compelled to watch the video again, here you go.
posted by CaseyB at 10:54 AM on December 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Quiz show podcast Ask Me Another ups the challenge occasionally with a puzzle called 'This, That, or the Other' in which you have to guess from three categories. I figure it works better for the heads-up format, where your opponent can steal a failed question, plus it's probably easier to come up with questions when your question really only needs to fit into two categories out of three.

Examples:

cocktails, pro-wrestling moves, or cocktail
cheese, dance move, or Moby Dick character
Prescription drugs, Harry Potter Spells, or IKEA products
grains, world currencies, or Pokemon
posted by pwnguin at 11:02 AM on December 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

If, like me, you feel compelled to watch the video again, here you go.

Funny, I the title made ME think of THIS, not that.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 11:27 AM on December 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Pokemon or Big Data is honestly difficult even as someone with a passing knowledge of both topics.

I stopped at nearly 30 answers correct. Currently working on a project where we're supposed to have a supplier-provided datalake, but given that it's supposed to enrich a 65-field XML report and can't even get hard-coded default fields right, I have dubbed it... drumroll... la dataflaque.

lac = lake
flaque = puddle
😎
posted by fraula at 11:34 AM on December 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Dog toy or marital aid?
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:25 PM on December 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Trump OR George Wallace?
Beavis OR Butthead?
posted by aspersioncast at 12:47 PM on December 11, 2017

via zarq in the current politics thread:
Huffpost, from March 2016: Who Said It: Renowned Racist George Wallace Or Donald Trump? We Seriously Can’t Tell.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:00 PM on December 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Is it too self-promoting to put my own "Who Said It: Trump Or Hitler" list here? (difficulty level: low)

1. When somebody challenges you, fight back. Be brutal, be tough.
2. Without passion you don't have energy, without energy you have nothing.
3. Der Erfolg ist der einzige irdische Richter über das Recht oder Unrecht.
4. What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.
5. Ich gehe mit der Sicherheit eines Schlafwandlers entlang des Pfades, den mir die Vorsehung geebnet hat.
6. I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present.
7. Ich kann mich nicht täuschen, was ich sage und tue, ist historisch.
8. Mache die Lüge groß, mache sie einfach, wiederhole sie immer wieder, und letztendlich wird man sie glauben.
9. Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.
10. We need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around.
11. Der Terrorismus ist die beste politische Waffe, nichts macht den Menschen mehr Angst, als die Furcht vor plötzlichem Tod.
12. Anyone who thinks my story is anywhere near over is sadly mistaken.
13. Was für ein Glück für die Regierenden, daß die Menschen nicht denken!

Trump: 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12
Hitler: 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13
posted by uosuaq at 1:21 PM on December 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

I swear I had not seen the Wallace or Trump thing in the potus45 thread, and now I just feel weird.
posted by aspersioncast at 2:35 PM on December 11, 2017

It's no longer online, but thanks to the Internet Archive y'all too can experience one of my all-time favorites.
posted by rallizes at 7:17 PM on December 11, 2017

The Composer or Mathematician quiz is the worst because I keep thinking M is for musician and C is for calculus.
posted by batter_my_heart at 9:35 PM on December 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

And a new one from MeTV - are these scenes from '60s Batman or Wild Wild West?
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:52 PM on December 11, 2017

A friend of mine wants to do a "prescription drug or middle earth sword?" quiz.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 10:22 PM on December 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Although prepared to gawk at AskReddit or Sociopathy Quiz, it ended up being pretty easy. The quiz questions are dryly trying to assess empathy, the reddit questions are bizarre (“would you eat a mermaid”) or attempting to provoke the sharing of shocking/funny anecdotes (pranks, what can you do in the dark). The only one I don’t understand is why a sociopathy quiz would ask for your favorite element.

The classic Prescription Drug or Pokemon is another excellent entry in this genre.

Pokemon or Big Data is honestly difficult even as someone with a passing knowledge of both topics

I got perfect scores on both, which scares me a little.
posted by alexlaw at 7:30 AM on December 12, 2017