Smelly Words

I mowed the lawn today, not an eventful deed, though it was the first mowing since last October. I mentioned it because after I finished and closed my garage door the odor of the fresh cut partially wet grass on the blades of the lawn mower reminded me how much we treasure certain smells. That fresh cut grass has a smell that is singular. It both attracts and repels, and it does something that many other of our favorite smells do. It brings us back to childhood or earlier memories of the same smell.

When I think of the smell of fresh cut lawns I get images of myself, 9 or 10 years old, pushing a mower on a hot summer day. The odor of today's mowed grass brought me back, only momentarily but vividly, to the joy of boyhood with all it's irresponsibility and freedom. A good smell has power and, of course, a bad one can be equally impacting. If I asked you to name your favorite smells you can easily come up with a few. But if I ask about your least favorite smells

(though please spare me of the odors of body excretions) you probably have to stop and think awhile. Our memories are selective in that they treasure the good and pushing the bad into the dark areas of the brain.

The worst smell for me is a burned egg yolk. That's because, not only does it have an awful odor, but I remember as a child burning one badly at home while cooking eggs for my breakfast. I left the kitchen and was distracted while away, coming back to a dank odor of a well burned egg. It made me feel nauseous then and it stamped itself permanently as a hated odor. Maybe that's why I now dislike eating egg yolks at breakfast, and why when I fry eggs in a pan for breakfast I use three egg whites and only one yolk.

Smells have strong associative properties with the stronger associations being more positive, I think. That's why the smell of fresh baked bread is so pleasant for everyone. We all have had frequent run-ins with that smell, and it is always associated with a past good moment in our lives. Can you think of anything negative about that smell? I can't. Not only is the physical odor pleasant, but it is a comfortable one. bakeries, mom's home kitchen all the places we smell that are comfort association. Our sense of smell is connected really well to our memory. The smell of popcorn reminds us of being at the movies with a friend or the smell of tar can remind you of riding in a car to the beach.

I'm glad my sense of smell is still working strongly. As we age it fades, just like the sense of taste declines (the two are closely associated too). What are your favorite smells and why so? Any smell that especially repulses you? Oh, yeah... I already know that you probably think my comments today "stink". At least I am consistently smelly.