(no subject)

[deckardcanine]

Every word for a bad smell -- "stink," "stench," "reek," "odor" -- used to be neutral. Now even "smell" itself has lost much of its neutrality, and I don't know how much longer "scent" and "aroma" will hold on before we have to invent a new English word. ("Bouquet" is better associated with another meaning.) The pattern comes partly from humans having relatively little use for olfaction and partly, I suspect, from that sense having a relatively strong link with the emotion center of the brain.

I've wondered before how animals' languages would differ from humans', particularly taking into account that so many animals rely on olfaction more than vision. Now I can just imagine an animal expressing disgust with "Man, this looks."

Comments

[carlfoxmarten]

One thing my dad noticed about his parents' generation was that they had a strong dislike of any smells whatsoever. (probably due to the relatively-recent discovery or invention of deodorizers) My dad loved the smell of food cooking, but his mother always covered it up with something like Febreeze as she didn't like it.
When my dad married my mom, he loved it when she made dinner, as he could actually smell the food as it cooked.

So, personally, I would partly blame the deodorizer companies and their associated marketing companies...