According to a Yale University study cited by Salon.com and Crayola.
At first glance I saw baby powder and cigarette butts back to back and thought for a split second that they'd listed "baby butts." "Yep," I thought to myself, "That's a recognizable scent all right." The first time I changed my child's diaper was an eye-opening (and sinus-opening) event. I was one of those guys who had never changed one before. Hoooooo doggy. I spied the carnage in that newborn-sized Pampers and turned to my wife.
"Did you feed her a sloppy Joe?"
And the smell. Sweet hot Jesus.
"Is that normal?" I said. "I think she might be sick or something."
She laughed. "Nope. Normal."
"Fuck. Me. Sideways. That shit ain't right. She gonna be doing this a lot?"
"Yep," says the Mrs. "And so are you."
1. Coffee
2. Peanut butter
3. Vicks VapoRub
4. Chocolate
5. Wintergreen oil
6. Baby powder
7. Cigarette butts
8. Mothballs
9. Dry cat food
10. Beer
11. Ivory bar soap
12. Juicy Fruit gum
13. Orange
14. Cinnamon
15. Lemon
16. Tuna
17. Banana
18. Crayons
19. Cheese
20. Bleach
Beyond the Flavor: Almond Pavé Cake.
2 days ago
Posts
Add in Chanel No. 5 for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd gasoline.
How about boiled cabbage and cat piss? Not together, of course.
ReplyDeleteSkunk.
ReplyDeleteOnce you smell it, you always remember it.
Fresh-baked bread.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the South, at least, any respectable list would have to include barbecue -- specifically, the aroma that permeates a long-time barbecue joint and makes you smile, take in a deeeep breath and go "Ahhhh!" every time you walk in.
My son didn't get odor in his poop until he was 4 months old. He is now 2 years old and that child can clear a room. Just like daddy.
ReplyDeleteI have an uncle who smells like all of these.
ReplyDeleteCrayola Crayons, PlayDoh.. ahhhhhhh
ReplyDeleteWet dog, rain, clean laundry, and must agree with BBQ.
ReplyDeleteLOL on the baby poop. Especially after they learn to eat solid food.
ReplyDeleteHow about Thanksgiving turkey?
or the smell of death....
Jess - I think I know him!
ReplyDeleteChanging diapers is disgusting business. The other day the daycare sent home a note asking if we'd been feeding the kid a lot of corn lately. True story!
I was surprised I didn't see vanilla on this list! Stupid Yale. Buncha morons.
Cheese? 4 reel?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThey left off desperation. I can smell that a mile away.
ReplyDeleteWait a sec.. sniff.. I smell it right now! Ok, who the ---
Never mind. It's me.
No, Jess, I only delete the political comments I disagree with.
ReplyDeleteD'oh. Too late.
ReplyDeleteA feed lot or hog farm. You drive past one in teh heat of a summer day, with no breeze and it will burn the nose hairs out of you and immediatly initiate the gag reflex.
ReplyDeleteMMMMMMMM, Steak and pork chops.........mmmmmmmmmmm
Rain in the summer, when it falls on the hot asphalt. Ahhh. Or spring rain, when it smells like earthworms.
ReplyDeleteLOL at the dry cat food! Although I think cat piss in the carpeting would be more di-stink-tive. (ha!)
What about popcorn? and bacon? and as Bev said, VANILLA!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm sorry, but I don't have a clue what catfood smells like.
Sinus infection.
ReplyDeleteLMFAO @ Bev's corn.
ReplyDeleteThey have bananas and dry cat food on there?? What, no flowers? How about hyacinths, lilacs, and peonies? And I second CajunMan's fresh baked bread---one of the best!
ReplyDeleteThis is a local more personal one for me, but Spangler Candy Company is in my town. They make Dum Dum suckers and Christmas Candy Canes. When the wind is blowing in the right direction, I can sit on my front porch steps and smell the candy being made at the factory. Lots of good sweet and fruity smells come from there. :)
I could be blindfolded, and I'd know if I were in Yosemite. ahhhhh! Pine/Cedar/Manzanita!
ReplyDeletewhenever I go, I have to stick my head out the car window and take in a deep breath.
Peppermint! I drink peppermint tea and the smell alone is calming.
Baby Head. (much better than the other end!)
If you live in San Francisco: Bum urine.
ReplyDeleteThey put dry cat food on there and they didn't put wet cat food? Wet is a lot stinkier than dry. And as far as my girls are concerned, the stinkier the better.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I could smell each one of those as I read them. My face totally contorted at "tuna".
I loathe the smell of mothballs with the intensity of seven suns. Old people are not safe around me.
ReplyDeleteThe smell of honeysuckle makes me instantly happy. Must be linked to some nice moment in my childhood. I've read that smell is the sense most closely linked to memory.
The smell of mowed grass still reminds me of playing baseball.
Boiled Cabbage & Cat Piss will be the name of my new folk rock duo. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteThere is a Tyson chicken plant around here and the smell of the gut truck driving by makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. Ain't no mistaking that shit. Yikes.
Also, the OCEAN? Love that briney scent. Reminds me of summers at Grandma's on the Jersey shore.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read that, I thought you said "britney" scent.
ReplyDeleteKari, I want to be in your band. Can I be 'Cat Piss'?
ReplyDeleteDead homeless woman in a sealed up BMW after a couple weeks.
ReplyDeleteI'm just sayin'
Word, Randy.
ReplyDeleteWord.
Eeewwww!---Britney scent! I don't even like imagining that one.
ReplyDeleteHoneysuckle is definitely good though.
Mothballs!? How do you get their little legs apart to smell them?
ReplyDeleteBritney scent = Red Bull, vodka, Cheetos, and despair.
ReplyDeletebodybytecate - very carefully
ReplyDeleteBev - you forgot unwashed, unpantied chacha
bev, HA!
ReplyDeleteFear- You can smell it a mile away.
ReplyDeleteOne more...
ReplyDeleteNapalm in the morning.
I LOVE the smell of Napalm in the morning.
ReplyDeleteThe horror.
Central Valley of CA - humid, raw cow ass.
ReplyDeleteNapalm smells like victory.
ReplyDeleteWendy - can you clarify, please? Is it the cow's ass that is humid, or just the air around it?
My teenage sons hockey bags. There's bacteria in there that the Pentagon would like to get their hands on. Probably some new strains of staph that could take out the west coast.
ReplyDeletePopcorn. I could eat a bushel. At any time.
Oh and Dippity-Doo. It was a hair-setting gel in the 60s for those of you too young - it had a pungent and specific smell. My mother would "Dippity-Doo" me before rolling my hair before special occasions. there is a picture of me at a Kindergarten function with a full-on teased beehive like I'm Miss Arkansas 1967.
ReplyDeleteMimeographed test pages in grade school--and the paste everyone wanted to eat. (I'm REALLY showing my age!)
ReplyDeleteMethane, idiots. Everyone knows the smell of a fart.
ReplyDeleteAlso, smoke. And pine trees. Have these people never gone outside?
I dub thee Cat Piss, totalblammblamm. Our tour bus is gonna be some kind of funky.
ReplyDeleteI can detect the scent of pot smoke and/or magic marker from the next zip code.
ReplyDeleteI totally read that is britney (not briney) as well. Love all the comments on this one. I really feel there has to be some mistake - this cannot be the top 20. Hello? Bacon?
ReplyDeleteBurning. I would hazard a guess that every animal species, including us, instinctively knows (via smell) when something is burning.
ReplyDeleteAries, methane is odourless. You mean rotten egg gas (hydrogen sulphide), which is very distinctive.
I think everyone would know the britney smell of the ocean and that of urine, too.
Dry cat food? Really. I have had three cats for 10 years and can't even conjure the smell of dry cat food. Cat piss year. Moist cat food, dear god I gag thinking of it.
ReplyDeleteMethane, hydrogen sulfide, whatever. I get my chemistry knowledge from Mad Max III Beyond Thunderdome. The point is, farts stink, and everyone knows it - except, apparently, the Salon.com people.
ReplyDeleteTwo men enter.
ReplyDeleteOne man leaves.
how about playdoh? now thats the smell.
ReplyDelete