5 ms·

In Tamil, we call this 'manvasanai', which literally translates to the smell of earth.

muon 17y ago
<digression> As this involves rain and earth, This poem immediately springs in the mind. The red earth and pouring rain. Red earth and pouring rain[1] What could my mother be to yours? What kin is my father to yours anyway? And how Did you and I meet ever? But in love our hearts have mingled as red earth and pouring rain [Translated by AK Ramanujan (Kuruntokai - 40) </digression>
- ryne 17y ago
  Titled: "What He Said" On a side note, poetry isn't poetry without proper spacing.
Veera 17y ago
I was about to comment this one, but u already did.
danh 17y ago
Isn't it strange that so very few smells have their own words to describe them? Supposedly, there are thousands of them, but, with the exception of the formula "it smells like X", almost without exception they don't have proper names. It's like that tribe in South America somewhere that didn't have words for colors, except in expressions as "colored like the sun" etc.
- gjm11 17y ago
  I think it's exactly because smells are so specific that there are few "general" smell words. It's useful to have a word for "red" since lots of different things are red, and particular shades of red rarely trigger very specific memories. But most of the time, when you smell something, your brain immediately tells you: it's the smell of X, for some specific X. Presumably this has something to do with the underlying biology. Our colour space is more or less three-dimensional because we have three kinds of receptor in the eye (I'm ignoring the rods here since they aren't involved in colour vision); there are thousands of different kinds of receptor in the nose. On the other hand, there are many many receptors of each kind in the eye; perhaps shape would be a better analogue for smell. And indeed most of our shape words are for quite specific shapes. There are some broader ones -- smooth, spiky, convoluted, etc. -- but likewise there are a few broader terms for describing smells -- pungent, musky, musty, sweet, etc.

muon 17y ago

<digression> As this involves rain and earth, This poem immediately springs in the mind. The red earth and pouring rain. Red earth and pouring rain[1] What could my mother be to yours? What kin is my father to yours anyway? And how Did you and I meet ever? But in love our hearts have mingled as red earth and pouring rain [Translated by AK Ramanujan (Kuruntokai - 40) </digression>

ryne 17y ago
Titled: "What He Said" On a side note, poetry isn't poetry without proper spacing.

Veera 17y ago

I was about to comment this one, but u already did.

danh 17y ago

Isn't it strange that so very few smells have their own words to describe them? Supposedly, there are thousands of them, but, with the exception of the formula "it smells like X", almost without exception they don't have proper names. It's like that tribe in South America somewhere that didn't have words for colors, except in expressions as "colored like the sun" etc.

gjm11 17y ago
I think it's exactly because smells are so specific that there are few "general" smell words. It's useful to have a word for "red" since lots of different things are red, and particular shades of red rarely trigger very specific memories. But most of the time, when you smell something, your brain immediately tells you: it's the smell of X, for some specific X. Presumably this has something to do with the underlying biology. Our colour space is more or less three-dimensional because we have three kinds of receptor in the eye (I'm ignoring the rods here since they aren't involved in colour vision); there are thousands of different kinds of receptor in the nose. On the other hand, there are many many receptors of each kind in the eye; perhaps shape would be a better analogue for smell. And indeed most of our shape words are for quite specific shapes. There are some broader ones -- smooth, spiky, convoluted, etc. -- but likewise there are a few broader terms for describing smells -- pungent, musky, musty, sweet, etc.