Smells You Just Can't Stand

Just as a certain song or noise can instantly transport you to a specific time or place, smells also play a big role in how we interpret the world.

Some of our favorite smells can transform our moods instantly when they hit our nostrils.

Take the smell of coffee, for instance, or the smell of something delicious baking in an oven. With one whiff we can go from having the worst day ever to the best moment of the day.

Conversely, there are just some smells that can spoil everything. Take, for example, the smell of mildew. As someone who has lived through a flood, when I smell mildew, I just about start to cry from anxiety. I know, from experience, that that smell can mean not only that something might be ruined or destroyed, but that it's going to be a process to clean up--one that takes time and energy--and my mood is instantly brought down.

Having grown up with pets, another smell I just can't stand is the smell of something dead. My cats used to "bring us treats" which was kind of them an all, but sometimes those treats went unnoticed...for days...which meant smells started to appear. Yuck.

That's why when I went into my Honeycomb Hideout Studio after a long weekend, recently, I just started to shake my head. I looked around to see where the smell of death was coming from and couldn't find anything (which is unnerving on it's own). I spend about 8 to 10 hours a day in that tiny little room, so even with an air freshener, a scented candle and Fabreeze, there would be no escaping that smell. And at this point in the year, cracking a window is not really an option.

So, as I tried in earnest to breath through my mouth, I got to thinking--"Aside from dead things, what are some of the other smells people just can't stand?"

Naturally (and to take my mind off of the smells) I put the question out on Facebook.

Aside from the entire year that was 2020 and this first week of 2021, here are a list of the things you think stink:

Lisa Hastings The mill in Old Town!

Amber Boobar Cooking lobster

Greg Miller One smell I absolutely cannot stomach is marijuana. Instant migraine.

Aisling Doucette Anything with vinegar and cat pee.

April Robshaw I have such a supersniffer that a lot of smells bother me.. but as of recent to worst since the smell of traveling through NJ or the Garbage plant incinerator..is this customer who comes in after her salon visit.. and stink.. my gawd.. people just start vacating the area.. her hair looks as though its bullet proof.. the aeroma of some staunchly after spray and the lingering take your breath away cheap gross perfume that should be a toilet bowl cleaner cause it deff takes away any other smell in the area... your eyes water and it gags you from 10ft away.. i get the feeling she is embalming herself daily

Jack Belyeu Patchouli.... if someone is wearing it I have to leave the area

Debbie Rolfe Umel The hospital..and vanilla!!!

Kristine Dufor Manure from a farm

Kyle Ableton People who's BO smell like onions

Guy Hasting Wet dog smell

Evelyn Putman Rotting meat or spoiled milk

Josh Masterson Earwax

Dave Gardner Low Tide

From his second to last day of vacation, even JStew chimed in with the smell he can't stand...which is sad because he has to experience it on a daily basis ;)

Jason Stewart The smell of defeat almost every morning during the Morning Music Matchup.