Hacker News Reader

Kind of strange that they only used the street name exclusively when referring to the drug.

It's MDMA, BBC.

It's the BBC. You have to speak appropriately for your audience.

Not to say the BBC's audience is a bunch of ecstasy addicts, but they aren't all chemistry PhD's either. Most people know drugs by their street name.

Although my daughter and her friends call it MDMA - ecstasy is what old people from the 20th century (like me) call it.

MDMA usually means in pure/cystal form, ecstasy usually in pills.

They talk about MDMA tablets though. I guess it's just each generation putting a stamp on it - like I would say "draw" instead of "pot"

Actually, at least in the US and UK, "ecstasy" usually refers to pills of MDMA which have been cut with some amount (50% or so) of meth or a similar upper. Pure MDMA (much safer) is more commonly referred to as molly to avoid confusion. The two formulations are very different.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com