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In this Discussion
- Clever_girl February 2012
- distant_shoe February 2012
- Dr_William_Hayward February 2012
- ed_chigliak February 2012
- flossy_log_lady February 2012
- Judar_Spitzer February 2012
- Leland February 2012
- Loose_Thread February 2012
- Matthew February 2012
- MirandaJuly February 2012
- swamp_knobbler_mahan February 2012
- the_owls February 2012
- ThickeningAgent February 2012
- YoursTruly February 2012
"Bad" smells that are good to you
I'm thinking about smells and how we can wire ourselves to enjoy smells that traditionally would be considered "bad."
Obviously I am thinking of this because my snoopy is slumbering by my side and his body emits this amazing warm dirty odor that I could imagine someone else finding distasteful but which to me is like THE MOST amazing smell, like dirty salty baking bread plus mud plus his own weird snoopy hair oils. He smells so doggy. And I know I have met dogs who I thought smelled bad, and I washed my hands after patting them. But with my snoopy I smell his face all day and can't get enough.
Others:
- for a long time, the smell of gasoline and exhaust, specifically motorcycle or lawn mower, was like roses to me because my boyfriend was a mechanic and a landscaper and always smelled like gas. Total crazy Pavlovian smell-association
- horse poop. It just smells good to me. It smells like horses, which smell amazing
- baby smell is totally gross, like old milk and a faint whiff of poop, yet somehow babies smell incredible
- my old man's beard oils. Very earthy
- sometimes B.O. smells weirdly good, must be some animal-brain thing
- lingering garlic-smell on fingers after cooking
Now that I think about it they are all earth-smells. Is this the ghost of our ape-brains??
Remember that NYer article about perfume and how Calvin Klein's "Eternity" has some molecules from decaying flesh in it? Like there is a tiny microscopic part of us that finds that smell enticing
??
Flaubert wrote a lot about smelling his lovers' armpits and how they smelled like various horrible old cheeses (19th century hygiene), but the smell gave him boners
Obviously I am thinking of this because my snoopy is slumbering by my side and his body emits this amazing warm dirty odor that I could imagine someone else finding distasteful but which to me is like THE MOST amazing smell, like dirty salty baking bread plus mud plus his own weird snoopy hair oils. He smells so doggy. And I know I have met dogs who I thought smelled bad, and I washed my hands after patting them. But with my snoopy I smell his face all day and can't get enough.
Others:
- for a long time, the smell of gasoline and exhaust, specifically motorcycle or lawn mower, was like roses to me because my boyfriend was a mechanic and a landscaper and always smelled like gas. Total crazy Pavlovian smell-association
- horse poop. It just smells good to me. It smells like horses, which smell amazing
- baby smell is totally gross, like old milk and a faint whiff of poop, yet somehow babies smell incredible
- my old man's beard oils. Very earthy
- sometimes B.O. smells weirdly good, must be some animal-brain thing
- lingering garlic-smell on fingers after cooking
Now that I think about it they are all earth-smells. Is this the ghost of our ape-brains??
Remember that NYer article about perfume and how Calvin Klein's "Eternity" has some molecules from decaying flesh in it? Like there is a tiny microscopic part of us that finds that smell enticing
??
Flaubert wrote a lot about smelling his lovers' armpits and how they smelled like various horrible old cheeses (19th century hygiene), but the smell gave him boners
Comments
Don't you think that the gas thing is somewhat a refutation of our A.B.?
Our animal brain is real (rude to say ape bc it goes back WAY further), but there just can't be enough said for the overlay of reality's ability to shape our brain in the clear and present now, i.e. the erotic perfume of gasoline.
Personally it is evident to me that we eroticize things, scents, in a cause-and-effect way.
The new Yaxt perfume is stinky but I loves it bc it reminds me of those goobers and the new Shangri-La video which enforces the brand and makes me think I remember it (the video) happening to me.
Smells are so cool because they are our first in into the world. If I am not mistaken, smell came first, even before a sense of touch.
Will a scientist please tell me more about how smell and memory and emotion are linked in the mind.
I once read a really cool book about the history of SMELL in France, medieval to 19th century. It is called THE FOUL AND THE FRAGRANT.
Smell!
So true re: gasoline and ape brain and erotic/emotional connections.
I thought of another one: my teddy bear! 30 years' worth of dust and body oils and weird bed smells. He's never been cleaned. He has a very intense, unique aroma and it is deeply comforting to me. BABY BRAIN
I don't know if that's 100% true, and I'm surely recalling some of it incorrectly. Since the smell of death and decaying flesh are basically the same thing, I also wonder how true that Calvin Klein thing is. Then again, when I worked at a funeral home, it was common for some people to get really hungry when they smelled decomposing bodies. Like, smelling a badly decaying body made them really want a burger. I never understood it.
And, the stink of creosote.
You can smell the stinky bay in some of the blocks downtown in Seattle.
The smell of that big old ocean thing.
Sloshing around.
You can't even get the free smells at Jimmy John's
that's cool science news about smells, KING OF!!! Wintergreen!!
smell is some powerful stuff- the smell of really rotten things (death) almost puts me into a panic- it's like inner warning systems sounding off telling me to get away immediately.
on the other hand, i have always loved the smell of lemons. better than any flowers, imho
Charcoal & roasted banana: very specific, reminds me of the streets of Cambodia. Nothing else like it.
The inside of an older model volvo: they all smell the same. It's very comforting. Like warm dust, must.
Rotting grapes: summer!
Sulfur / springs: probably due to associations with relaxation, but I still like it.
Campfire: people always complain about smelling like campfire. I wish I always smelled this way!
Favorite smells
Grapefruit peel
Linden flower
Gasoline
Skunk (from a distance)
Rain on the high desert (wet rock & sage)
Weird gnarly Turkish soap that sends me right back to my Grandparent's old summer apartment. I think they used to wash the floors with it. Once or twice I smelled it (or something very similar) in the States and it freaked me out so hard. Last time I was there I found the actual soap! And bought a cube, wrapped it in plastic and stuck it in a drawer. Every so often I take it out and smell it.
mmm collages
whenever I get inside an old Volvo I am powerfully transported back to college because Katy AND Adam both had old Volvos and I just have so many specific associations betwixt that smell and that time in my life. And now Katy's girlfriend has one so it's really weird to get in it with them and have this map of new-Katy on top of old-Katy in my memory, associated with the same smell.
if I could huff lapsang souchong all day long I would! Ideally while riding a sweaty horse by the ocean.
If I got sprayed by a skunk, I wonder if that smell, even the faintest whiff of it, would be ruined forever.
(one week, twenty years ago).
Great link Dr. Bill!
?
apparently they are born already knowing smells. The way humans are born already knowing their mom's voice. But for dogs it's smells!!!!!!! They are born blind and deaf but with a really complex smell-range.
like Proust's madeleine
only it's ol' moldy leather instead
Old VWs had something similar, but a little more vinyly.
But no, Volvo!
There is a part of the process that seems like it smells pretty sweet, like baking bread, but that gets sharper and sharper, more putrid, you might say.
That's been my experience with dead critters in the rafters. I found two dead raccoons in the backyard once. It took a couple of weeks to figure out what was going on. I buried their remains. It was kind of gnarly.
Two. Pretty close together. I felt honored, actually.
The article was about the head perfumer for Hermès. Wow it seems like I am now remembering enough details for a google search.
Indeed!:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/03/14/050314fa_fact
ITS A GOOD READ
Who wants to go on a smelling field trip to find this perfume? I wonder if it will smell like the idea of green mangos for real??
you guys remember that book Das Parfum
my freaky ex bf zax p gave it to me for christmas one year
did any of you see the movie of it
Do you like the Nirvana song Scentless Apprentice
????
"SCENT OF A WOMAN PREQUEL"
"THE MOST DANGEROUS SNIFF"