My daughter hasn't been feeling too well and threw up in the car today. My wife had an instant gag reflex to the smell and we had to pull over for her to do her thing. Anyways, because of my wife's aversion to all things vomit, I ended up doing most of the cleaning.
I think vomit is disgusting, sure, but I think it has a very floral odor--like a very strong smelling exotic flower. Not something I'd want to have in my house, but I don't mind taking in a small whiff of it as I clean it up.
Are there any flowers with a vomit smell? I've never had durian fruit, but my internet search for "vomit flower" brings me to that. Are there any others? Does the floral-vomit connection I've made have any basis in chemical reality? Are there some of the same acids in the stomach as there are in a flower?
Does vomit smell like flowers?
Re: Does vomit smell like flowers?
Sounds like an interesting flower indeed.
Well, after much searching and finding out much more about vomiting than I ever knew before (did you know you usually vomit not just the contents of your stomach, but of your small intestine as well?), I'll have to be satisfied with assuming it is butyric acid I associate with a floral odor, although it doesn't seem like it exists in many flowers. It is in dairy products like butter and parmesan cheese, though. In fact, there was a study where they gave the exact same chemical compound to people to smell, telling them the first one was "parmesan cheese" and the second was "vomit" and the people ranked the first as smelling good and the second as smelling bad. Pretty interesting.
Well, after much searching and finding out much more about vomiting than I ever knew before (did you know you usually vomit not just the contents of your stomach, but of your small intestine as well?), I'll have to be satisfied with assuming it is butyric acid I associate with a floral odor, although it doesn't seem like it exists in many flowers. It is in dairy products like butter and parmesan cheese, though. In fact, there was a study where they gave the exact same chemical compound to people to smell, telling them the first one was "parmesan cheese" and the second was "vomit" and the people ranked the first as smelling good and the second as smelling bad. Pretty interesting.
Re: Does vomit smell like flowers?
My beloved high school chem teacher liked to stalk the halls with a vial of butyric acid (and screen 1950s B-movies, and start battles with the other teachers, and do faux earthquake drills on the quad with his megaphone).
Re: Does vomit smell like flowers?
So *that's* why I sometimes find the smell of dairy/cheese off-putting. Huh!Yarjka wrote:It is in dairy products like butter and parmesan cheese, though. In fact, there was a study where they gave the exact same chemical compound to people to smell, telling them the first one was "parmesan cheese" and the second was "vomit" and the people ranked the first as smelling good and the second as smelling bad. Pretty interesting.
Re: Does vomit smell like flowers?
I sometimes think orange juice has a vomitty taste. Also, my daughter has vomited five times (so far) today, after eating a smoothie for breakfast. My house smells like fruit.
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Giovanni Schwartz
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Re: Does vomit smell like flowers?
krebscout wrote:I sometimes think orange juice has a vomitty taste.
I TOTES KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!
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Laser Jock
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Re: Does vomit smell like flowers?
Hm. The closest I can come to imagining that is if you drink orange juice right after brushing your teeth. Somehow that combination is really gross, and sorta reminds me of vomit. (Just the juice doesn't, though.)krebscout wrote:I sometimes think orange juice has a vomitty taste. Also, my daughter has vomited five times (so far) today, after eating a smoothie for breakfast. My house smells like fruit.
Re: Does vomit smell like flowers?
No, it's not the toothpaste phenomenon. I think it's something to do with the acid. I also loathe most chocolate and peanut butter ice creams and cakes (though I love actual chocolate and peanut butter) because almost all of them have this distinct flavor that I've heard described as "smoke," "dirt," and "coffee" (and I do know that sometimes people add coffee to chocolate things). My brother and my niece also have this curse, though I know most people don't taste it. And Sauron has this sensitivity to water that I don't get. It's pretty interesting to me how our senses of taste can be attuned in these subtle different ways.
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Waldorf and Sauron
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Re: Does vomit smell like flowers?
I think it's so interesting how apparently our aesthetic judgments of smells, tastes, and fluids are learned — poop and vomit and boogers aren't inherently repulsive—it's a learned response.
Anyway, I associate certain foods's smells and tastes with vomit, which sometimes makes them difficult to eat. Blueberry yogurt. Cottage cheese. Breakfast burritos.
Anyway, I associate certain foods's smells and tastes with vomit, which sometimes makes them difficult to eat. Blueberry yogurt. Cottage cheese. Breakfast burritos.
Re: Does vomit smell like flowers?
I've read (though I don't remember where and don't care to look it up, sorry) that our aversion to our own bodily fluids is related to some evolutionary instinct to avoid things that will make us sick/diseased/what have you. Just a thought anyway.Waldorf and Sauron wrote:I think it's so interesting how apparently our aesthetic judgments of smells, tastes, and fluids are learned — poop and vomit and boogers aren't inherently repulsive—it's a learned response.
Anyway, I associate certain foods's smells and tastes with vomit, which sometimes makes them difficult to eat. Blueberry yogurt. Cottage cheese. Breakfast burritos.