Body Odor

It’s easy to spot when someone isn’t wearing deodorant. Whether they forgot to apply it that day or if they just don’t choose to wear it, it’s a pretty distinguishable and offensive odor. I hung out with a girl in high school who didn’t wear it, for some reason, and the smell was worsened by the fact she was a basketball star and active in sports and activities.

Cigarette Smoke

It’s not the smell of the actual cigarette that gets to me, it’s the smell that lingers after someone has had a cigarette. Often when someone comes in from having a cigarette outside you can smell the stale cigarette smoke from their clothes and their breath. Some people do carry gum or mints with them and that does really help. There’s also nothing worse than going home and finding you smell like an ashtray just from being around people who smoke. (But I suppose we – nonsmokers- often make the choices to be around the people who smoke so we should take some of that responsibility for coming home smelling like smoke.)

Perfume/cologne

The smell of women’s perfume and men’s cologne can be quite nice at times. But some people feel a need to practically bathe in the scent. Many people don’t realize that they become immune to the scent after a very short time of wearing it, so they feel they have to keep spraying and spraying it until they can smell it. They aren’t realizing that the rest of the population isn’t immune to it. It can be so strong that people around will experience headaches and feelings of sickness.

Bad Breath

I know it’s a hard thing to do but if someone around you has bad breath and you have gum or mints in your wallet, please offer. Often a person doesn’t know he/she has bad breath and would probably rather know about it than go about their day killing everyone with the smell.

Gas

Ok, I really don’t care if someone around me has to fart or burp. That stuff really doesn’t bother me. I would rather they let it out than hold it in because it’s not healthy to hold it in. However, it is pretty offensive when someone burps but doesn’t cover the mouth. Just because it may not be a huge loud belch it will still smell. Gross.

Next-Day-Booze

It’s the smell of liquor that is still coming out of a person’s pores the next morning. When I worked the overnight shift at a convenience store one summer, I would always get the drunken customers coming in after the bars, around 2AM, and then those same customers would come in around 6AM that same morning before heading to work. I could still always smell the booze from the night before, even if they had showered. It was still coming out of their pores.

All of the Above

There’s nothing worse than a bad-breathed drunken smoker who farts and burps all the time and wears too much perfume to cover up their body odor.

1. Skunk odor

   This malodorous stench is widely regarded as one of the worst smells in the world, but even this potent smell has its own set of fans who find it to be “interesting”. In fact, there’s an entire group of skunk odor lovers out there who describe the odor of skunk as sweet perfume. Is there no accounting for taste?

2. Decaying flesh

   This is a stench that most people find to be repulsive, maybe because it elicits thoughts of death. Many an investigator upon finding a dead and decaying body has been known to gag at the scene from the overwhelming odor. This particular odor can easily be classified as one of the world’s worst smells and you’re not going to have many people argue the point.

3. Vomit

   This is another odor associated with the negative connotation of illness which may be why so many people find it to be offensive. It’s another pungent odor that can cause even a strong person to gag. Surprisingly, this gagging response to the smell of vomit could be adaptive. If someone within a group who vomits has eaten a bad piece of food, it would be adaptive that the other group members vomit to eliminate the toxin. Surprisingly enough, many people who abhor the smell of human vomit find animal vomit to be much less offensive.

4. Feces and urine odor

   These are two odors that are commonly cited as being some of the worst smells in the world. Why does feces smell so badly? The bacteria that colonize feces are the real culprits. They break down the undigested food residue to create some very malodorous gases. The smell of feces can differ somewhat based on what foods you have eaten.

5. Decaying food

   If you’ve ever opened a container left in the refrigerator for several weeks and opened the container, you’re familiar with this unappetizing stench. Again, we can blame the by products of bacteria on this one. Bacteria don’t seem to be very picky about what they choose to eat! Again, this can be classified as an adaptive response since it acts as a deterrent to eating food that could cause illness.

6. Isonitriles

   You may not have smelled them, but they’ve been classified as the “world’s worst smell”. Persons who have been exposed to the smell of these chemicals have reportedly vomited at first whiff. The stench is so bad they’ve even been patented for use as nonlethal weapons. With a smell this potent and malodorous, it certainly makes it a challenge for those involved in their development and use.

You probably have your own list of what you consider to be the worst smells in the world, but chances are at least one of these repugnant smells made your list. It seems like, at least as far as smell goes, some things are universal.

Here are some strange and unusual smells that some people appear to love:

1. The Odor of Horse Manure

   

   While this odor would be offensive to most, there are people who find this smell to be quite pleasant. Here’s an interesting quote, “I love it. The rich smell of horse poop, there’s nothing like it anywhere.” This quote is from the book Kentucky Rich by Fern Michaels. Could this person have had a very positive experience with horses that helped him to form this particular preference?

2. Gasoline Smell

   

   This is actually a fairly common odor preference. What makes this interesting is that the ingredients in gasoline are actually toxic in high doses which makes this a very maladaptive smell association. Most likely this positive smell association stems from a pleasant car trip taken in the past.

3. Skunk Odor

   

   This one is so common that there’s even a website devoted to the love of skunk odors. This is one of a variety of places where closet skunk odor lovers can share their love of skunk smells. Strangely enough, there are even entrepreneurs marketing skunk colognes and perfumes.

4. Mildew Odor

   

   This is another strange odor preference, although not as common as the love of skunk or gasoline smells. Fortunately, as of yet, there’s no one marketing a cologne called “Eau de Mildew”.

5. Pipe Smoke

   

   This is another rather common smell preference. Many people who have a fascination with this odor had a grandfather or father who smoked a pipe and have positive memories of the experience. Pipe smoke might be a comfort idea, somewhat similar to a comfort food.

6. Body Odor

   

   Why should this be an odor preference? No one knows for sure, but persons who have a strong body odor are likely sweat profusely because they are hard workers and good bread winners. This may make this scent attractive to the opposite sex who sees this as a positive attribute. Which raises the question as to why the antiperspirant and deodorant industry is so lucrative?

Now you know six strange and unique smells that some people love. There’s no accounting for taste or smell, in this case.