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Odd Smells

Whenever I smell daffodills I'm taken back to when I was 2 or 3 years old at my grandparents home, sitting on the loo! I think they must have had a bunch of daff's in the bathroom and for some reason I remember it, 30-ish years later.
However, I grew up in Cornwall, my father worked on a daffodill farm and me and my pal's would go and play in the daffodil fields, so that aroma was around me a lot as a child, however, I only ever think of my grandparents bathroom when I smell daff's! I'm always curious as to why my memory has hardwired that memory with that smell. Strange...
 
escargot1 said:
sneakyfeet said:
Cultjunky said:
Could the smell of perfume be a kind of washing powder/conditioner smell?
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I thought about that. Except it didn't really smell like the fabric softener we use...but maybe the heat of the laptop combined with wearing it altered the scent a bit? Who knows. Ah, the little mysteries of life!
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The only way to be sure is to play on your laptop for a while and then get someone to bury their face in your lap while your thighs're still hot snd sniff really hard.
Let us know how you go on.
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Should that ever happen, I'll post in the forgotten history thread.
 
escargot1 said:
The only way to be sure is to play on your laptop for a while and then get someone to bury their face in your lap while your thighs're still hot snd sniff really hard.
Let us know how you go on.
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Lol! This will certainly be an interesting, but thoroughly scientific, experiment. Now I just have to find a willing volunteer! :lol:
 
escargot1 said:
The only way to be sure is to play on your laptop for a while and then get someone to bury their face in your lap while your thighs're still hot snd sniff really hard.
Let us know how you go on.
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Goodness knows, I've tried to do this experiment many times - but so far there haven't been any takers. Ah well.
 
Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?

Ophelia: No, my lord.

Hamlet: I mean, my head upon your lap?

Ophelia: Aye, my lord.

Hamlet: Do you think I meant country matters?

Ophelia: I think nothing my lord.

Hamlet: That’s a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs.

Ophelia: What is, my lord.

Hamlet: Nothing.


:shock:
 
JamesWhitehead said:
Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?

Ophelia: No, my lord.
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Ha ha! That took me back to my student days!

In the 60s, Playboy did an article on all the rude bits in Shakespeare! ;)
 
Lap was still being used with its double-meaning as late as 1816. In a project yet to be properly unveiled, I found the following exchange in a novel by Jane Harvey, 1776 - 1841:

Excerpt from Chapter Five of Brougham Castle, 1816

[As we join the trio en famille, they have been discussing "a monumental pillar in Penrith churchyard, vulgarly called the Giant's Thumb."]

The risibility of [Cadmus] Crosthwaite now got the better of his anger, and almost convulsed with laughter, he exclaimed, "And so you really believe that the object you mention is actually the thumb of a man in a state of lapidescence."

Prudence, highly provoked by his laughter, sharply replied, "I know not what you mean by your lap sense or lap nonsense, Cadmus. You think yourself wiser than udder folks because you can spelder [Yorkshire dialect word for spell] seek hard words, but it's nae seek uncommon thing for a body to be turned to stean. Is not there Long Meg an' her dowters at Salkeld? It's weel known they were witches."

. . .

[Quite a lot is going on in this scene, since the author takes neither of her characters seriously. Prudence has the earthiness of a country girl who knows how people can turn hard. " . . . it's nae seek uncommon thing for a body to be turned to stean." She may also know what a lap is better than many a modern reader. To see "udder" in the same speech suggests she and her author are being perfectly biological here. It is all understandable enough for a child of Nature, whose husband denies "lapidescence" even to thumbs and supplies her with both a child and a bag of gold by some means more alchemical.]

Much, much more curious fun on the Edenhall Corpus Page

The first link I have posted to it. In a thread about Odd Smells! :)

Edit: Jane not Jame
Edit II: Thread not thead
 
Purrfect pong.

Smelly cat

USA: Residents are hoping air samples tests can explain why their Pennsylvania city smells like cat urine.

New Castle residents began noticing the smell on November 1, in the city about 75km northwest of Pittsburgh. The New Castle News says the smell lingers near a sewage treatment plant in the city’s Mahoningtown neighbourhood.

State environmental officials do not believe the odour is harmful, but they don’t yet know what’s causing it.

A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says on-site monitoring did not detect any hazardous substances in the air.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 00132.html
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Cooking meth produces smells of cat pee (information gained from Breaking Bad viewing, not personal experience).

My bathroom started smelling mysteriously of cat pee, but then I caught the cat having a pee up the corner and the mystery was solved.
 
'Twas strange...last night the air smelled strongly like an oil refinery. Really overpowering, too. :err:
The nearest oilfield is about 50 miles away and we never smell oil around here. It lasted all night, too. No idea of the source.

ETA - just to clarify, it smelled like oil refinery moreso than oilfield, and the nearest refinery is more than 100 miles away. The only other possiblilty is a natural gas flare burning somewhere near, but I don't know of any, unless there is some drilling out in the backwoods somewhere...
 
I lived in an apartment in an old building in San Francisco and in the kitchen, I would occasionally have the experience of a very localized (two-foot radius), heavy scent of a cheap-smelling man's cologne. I smelled it twice in 6 years..always very suddenly and in the same location in the kitchen. The windows were closed, and I would never have let my then husband wear anything that horrible. There was no way this smell could just generate by itself; we called it "the Cologne Ghost".

Two years ago I started smelling burning toast in my sleep. It was so strong, it would wake me up. I've read that this is a symptom of a stroke, but I've not had one of those either. Then it stopped. I was under a lot of stress at both points in my life...ideas?
 
kitler said:
I lived in an apartment in an old building in San Francisco and in the kitchen, I would occasionally have the experience of a very localized (two-foot radius), heavy scent of a cheap-smelling man's cologne. I smelled it twice in 6 years..always very suddenly and in the same location in the kitchen. The windows were closed, and I would never have let my then husband wear anything that horrible. There was no way this smell could just generate by itself; we called it "the Cologne Ghost".

Two years ago I started smelling burning toast in my sleep. It was so strong, it would wake me up. I've read that this is a symptom of a stroke, but I've not had one of those either. Then it stopped. I was under a lot of stress at both points in my life...ideas?
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Hmm. Well, a severe enough depression can cause olfactory (and other) hallucinations, perhaps stress can, as well? Or maybe there was a heating vent that brought the smell in from another apartment? But personally, I like the idea of a ghost with poor taste in cologne who gets a bit peckish in the night...:)
 
Carlyon Road area in St Austell smells fishy and residents have no idea why
By Shannon_Hards | Posted: March 28, 2017

Residents of St Austell have been left baffled by a mystery smell that wafted into areas of the town last night.
People living in the Carlyon Road area took to social media after smelling the "fishy" aroma.

One resident said: "It smelled like fish had been gutted on our front drive. It was the foulest smell I had ever smelt."

@chrisretallick tweeted Cornwall Live: "Hi, any idea why St Austell absolutely stinks of bins and fish this evening?"
He added: "The smell was across the whole of St Austell. Fishy near Polkyth and like bins near Asda. Multiple people on Facebook confirmed it too. Slight smell today, but mostly dissipated."

Another resident of the town said they thought it smelled like "p*** outside".
Someone else suggested: "Must be something to do with farmers fields and wind direction... They spray all sorts of crap (literally)."

A spokesman for Cornwall Council said: "We've contacted two officers based in St Austell within the neighbourhoods and public protection team; one hasn't smelt anything at all and another did smell it last night but not this morning.
"It could be spreading on nearby fields in which case with the rain due today it should disperse. We will not investigate further unless there is creditable evidence of a likely source."

http://www.cornwalllive.com/carlyon...-no-idea-why/story-30232561-detail/story.html

When I was fishing for sprats in the 80s, most of our catch went for fishmeal, which was often used as fertiliser.
 
A Lufthansa 747 whent over here last year dumping fuel
place stunk of paraffin for 3 days.

 
I have noted some foul smells lingering around here in the last couple of weeks. It's nothing new, though. Farmers spread slurry on the fields at this time of year. Recent high pressure systems kept the effluvia local. I'm a couple of miles from green fields but it was a real pen-and-ink this week! :eek:
 
A place on the A505 I go past every day is a BioGen methane/waste processing plant. Occasionally, I have smelt a strong smell just like beer brewing - a very pungent odour like hops. I'm wondering if hops are used in the process.
 
We were hacking at next door's bay tree today and taking the bits to the tip.

Now we and the car smell of bay leaves. Gorgeous. :cool:
 
Cycling to work for a nightshift. Went through a section of road that smelt very strongly of Thyme. Passed that stretch of road many times and never smelt it before.

No it's wasn't weed or synthetics from a passing car. No odd effect on me either.
 
Naughty_Felid said:
Cycling to work for a nightshift. Went through a section of road that smelt very strongly of Thyme. Passed that stretch of road many times and never smelt it before.

No it's wasn't weed or synthetics from a passing car. No odd effect on me either.
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You encountered the passage of thyme, I see.
 
I seem to have an odd situation with strong floral and perfume scents here. The first experience was at Christmas a couple of years back. The day my Mother was dying the rooms were filled with the scent of Lillies -my favourite flowers. There had not been any fresh flowers here for a while and even Hubby smelled it too and he had a go at me asking me if I had bought them as they were stinking the place out. Mother passed away in the early hours of the next day and I never smelled it again ( apart from when I do buy them and they don't smell in every room). Last week it was the scent of Bluebells in just one spot in the hallway with no explanation ( no air fresheners etc). Not smelled it before or since. Another time ( a year or so ago) I could smell ladies perfume in one spot of the room by a large table. Again no explanation for it and I could smell it just in the one spot all evening. Anyone else have such experiences? They don't frighten me but quite the reverse I feel comforted by these mysterious scents.
 
When one of my friend's best friends died a while ago when I was visiting we could both smell this lovely perfume although my friend said she didn't have any on, and she thought it was to do with that friend.
At that time too she had toys in her spare room turn on .
 
Vida Loca said:
I seem to have an odd situation with strong floral and perfume scents here. The first experience was at Christmas a couple of years back. The day my Mother was dying the rooms were filled with the scent of Lillies -my favourite flowers. There had not been any fresh flowers here for a while and even Hubby smelled it too and he had a go at me asking me if I had bought them as they were stinking the place out. Mother passed away in the early hours of the next day and I never smelled it again ( apart from when I do buy them and they don't smell in every room). Last week it was the scent of Bluebells in just one spot in the hallway with no explanation ( no air fresheners etc). Not smelled it before or since. Another time ( a year or so ago) I could smell ladies perfume in one spot of the room by a large table. Again no explanation for it and I could smell it just in the one spot all evening. Anyone else have such experiences? They don't frighten me but quite the reverse I feel comforted by these mysterious scents.
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I often smell pipe tobacco burning ( a very distinct odour different to the current crop of plastic cig substitutes) in all sorts of locations both inside and outside with no signs of anyone actually smoking. My father smoked a pipe for decades and often you could only tell he was in a room by the clouds of smoke from his pipe. I suspect it's a trick of the mind when I think of him, albeit subconsciously. Smelling things burning can apparently be a symptom of a brain tumour but I'm sure I'm not thus afflicted.
 
PeteS said:
I often smell pipe tobacco burning ( a very distinct odour different to the current crop of plastic cig substitutes) in all sorts of locations both inside and outside with no signs of anyone actually smoking. My father smoked a pipe for decades and often you could only tell he was in a room by the clouds of smoke from his pipe. I suspect it's a trick of the mind when I think of him, albeit subconsciously. Smelling things burning can apparently be a symptom of a brain tumour but I'm sure I'm not thus afflicted.
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Proper pipe tobacco actually smells fantastic (I remember my Grandad having an amazing collection of pipe tobacco). It's surprising that it isn't more popular among diehard smokers, but I guess the price of aged, flavoured tobacco and the use of a pipe puts them off.
 
PeteS said:
I often smell pipe tobacco burning ( a very distinct odour different to the current crop of plastic cig substitutes) in all sorts of locations both inside and outside with no signs of anyone actually smoking. My father smoked a pipe for decades and often you could only tell he was in a room by the clouds of smoke from his pipe. I suspect it's a trick of the mind when I think of him, albeit subconsciously. Smelling things burning can apparently be a symptom of a brain tumour but I'm sure I'm not thus afflicted.
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We have a particular spot in our lounge room where I can occasionally smell cigarette smoke. We live in the country, have no immediate neighbours and the room would be 50-60 meters from the road. Neither of us smoke. It doesn't happen often, though when it does it's quite noticeable and lasts just a couple of minutes. It's quite distinctive and has been smelled by others on occasion. I put it down to either the spirit of someone who once lived here or my father, a heavy smoker who passed away when I was twenty.
 
Lord Lucan said:
We have a particular spot in our lounge room where I can occasionally smell cigarette smoke. We live in the country, have no immediate neighbours and the room would be 50-60 meters from the road. Neither of us smoke. It doesn't happen often, though when it does it's quite noticeable and lasts just a couple of minutes. It's quite distinctive and has been smelled by others on occasion. I put it down to either the spirit of someone who once lived here or my father, a heavy smoker who passed away when I was twenty.
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In the mid-eighties l bought a newly-built house. l don’t smoke. l brought a date home one evening. Despite asking her not to smoke in the house, she lit up a coffin nail while l was elsewhere. (The relationship didn’t last...).

Despite my best efforts at ventilation, cleaning etc., when the climatic conditions were right, l could still occasionally smell fag smoke when l moved out several years later. Yuck!

maximus otter
 
On the subject of cigarettes.Odd thing happened just now. Went into my 'best room' to check my plants for watering and a jug of Lillies regarding water level. On checking the jug I was somewhat taken aback to find an empty cigarette packet placed inside the jug. We both smoke but never in that room only in our main room. Just asked Hubby what was he playing at doing this and he didn't know anything about it!!! Also had some odd happenings regarding some battery operated candles where they are turned off by a remote control however one or two seem to have a life of their own and have come back on when I check them in the morning after double checking at night. I shall put that down to a possible tech issue but it is annoying.
 
Well the battery candle matter didn't end there. I have four independent ones in the sitting room. Sometime during Boxing Day night they all knocked off together yet the remote was across the other side of the room on a table. I put them back on again and so far no further issues. I am now beginning to wonder what is going on with all the trivial happenings added together as the timings seem to link to my late Mothers passing...
 
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