Does your opinion of whether something smells good or not depend on if you know what you're smelling? Yes, that's a confusing question, but let me put it this way:
You may or may not have driven down south Lincoln Avenue in Urbana on a hot July day. Corn' s pretty high (higher than you knee of course), and you catch wind of an interesting scent. It's hard to put a finger on what it is exactly. Is that a giant mince meat pie cooling on someone's windowsill? Or is something rotting? It's hard to tell if it's sweeter than it is foul.
Then you drive past an enourmous herd of cows with their necks sticking through metal bars to reach the slop in the troughs placed just within tongue's reach.
Suddenly, you realize it's molecules of cow dung you've been inhaling with such passive concern. Now, does that smell suddenly become repugnant to you? Nauseating?
Or are you like my father, who thinks it smells "sweet". Hot cow manure wafting slowly through the thick air. Sweet.
Now, when I drive by, I try to pretend I don't know what I'm smelling.
Alas, I can't separate my senses from the knowledge I gained when I first asked my mom, driving down Lincoln in our orange vangagon, "....What's that smell?"
Funny, that question never seems to produce a good answer!
1 comment:
And to think I thought it was a giant mince meat pie this whole time!
Post a Comment