I Only Smelled These Things After Moving to America
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- Hot on the heels of my video on American sounds, here are just some of the distinctive smells I first encountered after moving to the United States.
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When my Korean Ex smelled a skunk for the first time, she asked what it was. I told her it was an animal called a skunk. She asked, "How long has it been dead?" I had to explain to her that they smelled like that when they were alive.
Hah ha, funny conversation. You never think you’d need to explain a skunk to anyone.
😂😂😂😂
We explain skunks to Australians. "Don't Pet the Fart-squirrels."
Dilute skunk smells to me like burning rubber.
Ahhh such great memories of my favorite skunk, Pepé Le Pew 🦨. I love this channel 👍🏻♥️
@@w.reidripley1968 If you don't annoy them, skunks can be quite friendly, even wild ones. That's why they're kept as pets (usually de-scented by surgical removal of the glands). Not surprisingly they have no intrinsic fear of humans or dogs.
Some years ago an albino skunk frequented a campground in central Arizona. It would go from tent to tent seeking handouts and pets. There was a sign warning campers not to freak out, and to be nice to "Flower".
"I'm a plain guy; I'm the sort of person who'll even eat pasta without adding anything to it." - This right here is in the top 3 most British things I've ever heard in my entire life.
With the way food prices are going this isn’t going to be just a British thing anymore 😢
When I was growing up (in the U.S.) I thought my brother was crazy because he didn't like sauce on his spaghetti. But he did sprinkle cheese on it. 😂😂😂
I mean perfectly Al dente spaghetti noodles just coated and butter mainly to keep them from sticking to each other and doesn't even have to be heavy coating just a little bit of butter just enough to like I said keep him from sticking to each other is one of the best dishes in the world if you ask me.
A nation that conquered half the world to import spices that they never put in food. :D
God, like small children!
I've lived in Europe for 23 years. What struck me last year when I returned to Paris from the US, was the stench of cigarette smoke and urine outside the airport. I realized during my trip back to the Midwest, I hadn't smelled those things
You will find that in homeless areas in the us. ☹️
Not unusual when you use the subway/trains in the US
Thats what I said when I went to Paris the first time. How was Paris? It's great once you get used to the smell of dog pee everywhere. You don't get that on the travel shows,
@@roy.mclean it's human pee
Pee, cigarettes, car exhaust, with just a soupçon , in the morning, of dying yeast from the million baguettes baking
You forgot cut grass. I live in Asia now but when I visit family in the US I am filled with nostalgia over the smell of lawns being mowed in the summer. Also the reason skunk smell is rather common is not that they are defending themselves, it's that one of them has been hit by a car, releasing its whole sac full of stench.
Cut Grass and Pool Chlorine are the quintessential summer smells in the Midwest.
@@GummyDinosaursify
Same here in the South. Along with BBQing and smoking meats of various types.
There are no cars in my front yard at night during mating season. 😉
Did you know that smell is the grass screaming.. Sad..
Im pretty sure they the cut grass in England
I think "I'll eat pasta plain without adding anything to it" might be the most British thing I've ever heard you say.
Could we at least add butter?
I'd rather have pasta with butter any day than any sauce.
@@donna9121 butter makes sense. Straight drained and put on a plate doesn't. Unless you're British. Or if its the finest pasta in the world.
@@donna9121 and olive oil and garlic. Lot's of garlic...
@@donna9121 me, too. Butter and salt. If I have it, a pinch of pecorino romano
Many dog owners can tell you that not only do skunks spray for defense, they are incredibly accurate at impressive distances.
The only time I've crossed paths with a skunk while walking my current dog was actually at a park sandwiched between two cities. It lived in the sewers and was going from one sewer to another across the street. I got lucky, my nearly blind dog could tell something strange was ahead, but couldn't figure out what. Had she known it was roughly cat sized she would have tried to hunt it. She's part beagle and loves hunting anything that moves.
OMG! YES! My dog got sprayed and it took forever for the smell to wear off. Tomato Juice is not as effective as I was led to believe. lol.
Ugh. I was with my dog and we both got sprayed right in the kisser by a skunk. That second-hand stank most people smell is a fuckton different when you are the target of the skunks ass juice. OMG it burns and smells a whole lot worse 🤮😭😂
@@jon420 I'm really sorry to hear that but LOL at your description. It makes you wonder if they do target practice or something. How are they so accurate from 10 feet away???
@@russb24 I don't know, but they are. That stuff is disgustiing and they are good at hitting their target even at 10 feet. 😆
My Danish family came to visit and stayed with us in our house in the woods in the mid-west. One evening, a skunk visited and they were amazed. They had thought that skunks were made-up animals like unicorns, since an animal that can shoot stinky stuff out of its butt over its head seemed far-fetched.
My cousin married a Danish man and our family lives in the Midwest. On his first trip here, he thought he would see tons and tons of raccoons. Because they show up a lot in cartoons, but he didn’t realize that you almost NEVER see one, and especially not during that day. He was so disappointed!
They don't shoot it out of their tails like a weird scorpion. They have to aim their posterior your way.
My friend went to London years ago, and kept smelling something familiar, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. His brother, who had lived there for a while, explained that he was smelling lead in car exhaust, something that disappeared in the late 1970s in the US.
I'm sure it effected my cognition but I used to love the smell when my old dad used to gas up the car in the 70s, leaded gasoline smell was fantastic.
Lead in petrol (gas) was banned in the UK in 2000 but was being fased out since the 1980's.
@@thedemonnemo Get into the small airport/ prop-planes culture. Leaded gasoline is still everywhere there.
Lead in petrol wasn't banned in the US until 1996, in the UK it was 2000.
The car exhaust in Paris makes me nauseated and gives me a headache. I don't think it's leaded, but has some additive that makes me feel sick.
I am a microbiologist, having worked for over 40 years in that field in the US, but I also worked for a while in labs in the UK. One time, I was in the room where some of our culture media was being prepared, and immediately caught a whiff of something familiar: skunk. I asked the technician if he was keeping a skunk in there and he said, "no, why?" I said, because it smells like a skunk in here, then I asked him what the smell was and he told me it was thioglycollic acid, used in making a medium we used called thioglycollate broth, so there you have it, if you want to smell skunk in the UK, get yourself a bottle of thioglycollic acid
I thought it was methyl mercaptan.
I looked it up and it is probably both and other related chemicals. Methyl mercaptan is HS-CH3, and thioglycollic acid is HS-CH2-COOH. HS- group is the stinky part they both share; -COOH group is also stinky.
probably easier to go to a zoo that has skunks
@@markmaki4460 This is always what I think of as the most similar to skunk. I worked at a flavor company and they would have to make the coffee flavors on the weekends because of that chemical (or furfural mercaptan? I can't remember which) because it would stink up the entire building and the office staff complained.
@@markmaki4460 nah mercaptan smells like farts, it's what they add to propane and natural gas.. skunks smell like weed. I think this lab guy was just getting crunk or spendy or whatever the kids say now.
Not skunk related, but I am also a retired microbiologist (MT, actually, but many years in micro.) It's one of those occupations where, if our sense of smell isn't up to snuff (colds, alleriges), it's like having one hand tied behind our backs! People don't realize how nice some bacteria smell, lol! I mean, we're not sticking our noses in the plates (lol), but we can waft them at a distance and practically ID it just from the smell. Pseudomonads and some Streps are really sweet, E coli smells like tortilla chips (or sweaty socks to some people), and some say Proteus smells like burnt chocolate, but they just make me sneeze. And I could always tell when someone had a Burkholderia in the incubator from the potato smell! I do miss it sometimes.
In regards to skunks, the ones sold as pets are de-scented (the offending glands are removed). They can still go through the motions of spraying, but there's no smell.
I've heard that wild skunks are often hit by cars because they're accustomed to simply raising their tail to ward off predators. In normal circumstances, this is usually enough to ward off attacks, but ... well, let's just say it isn't always enough to ward off a fast-moving vehicle.
And then the road smells of burning plastic for a few days
Yea when I was a kid, my neighbor found an orphaned skunk baby, she ended up keeping it as a pet, and the vet removed the spray glands
One of my least-fond childhood memories was being in the car at a vacay spot, driving to and from the campground, which required dad to drive over skunk roadkill. Each time we had to open the windows and hold our breaths until the smell passed.
I never found them as offensive as others do, which is kinda weird. You know that plastic/rubber smell, especially if you leave tools in a box in the heat for a long time? Annoying but I can deal with it. Those fake cinnamon smells (such as on pinecones in EVERY store) on the other hand...
Oftentimes, the act of being run over will rupture the glands and that is possibly the worst smell you will ever experience. It can be so strong shortly after the rupture that you will struggle to breathe even from just driving over the area where it happened. It can literally take your breath away, even inside a vehicle.
If I saw someone eating pasta with nothing on it, I would have to exit the building. Because you have no idea what else that madman is capable of. 😮
BaRilla EXIT
I eat Ramen without the packet or water.
Sometimes I eat pasta with nothing on it as well
@@xtlm Yes, and your point? I think that just proves Elyssa's point. What else could a madman like you be capable of?
Pasta with a little butter is good. Especially if it is homemade pasta.
One mid June day, my cousin and I were camping at a kind of local campground, and him and I decided to take a walk, just hanging out to enjoy the day!! We happened across this lovely field of wild flowers and medium length grass, as we continued walking and talking about life, music and girls! It was THEN in almost the middle of the field I turned to him and said "Do you smell that?" AND for a moment he looked at me kind of stunned!!!!!!!
All we could smell was the sweet scent of Strawberries lofting in the air...........and in the middle of this field we'd stumbled upon a HUGE PATCH of wild grown strawberries!! We picked as many as we could care and took them back to camp with us!! It made for an amazing weekend, and we eat good for the four day weekend we were camping!!
I kept thinking you were going to happen upon a skunk and get sprayed on this walk. 😅 Wild strawberries are much better!
I’m surprised you haven’t come across one of the strongest cinnamon odor sources in the US yet, Cinnabon. They make ooey gooey cinnamon rolls that spread their aroma through entire shopping malls or airport terminals.
And they are quite plentiful in the Chicago area.
I’m sure he has. Auntie Anne’s smells pretty much the same, though.
My gf actually makes me eat more cinnamon than I want, on the theory that it's good for insulin regulation.
@@paulkienitz cinnamon candy is labeled and perhaps hyped as sugar free, it always was, and they’re delicious. So it’s not a bad sweets substitute.
I don't know about in the Midwest, but in the west, the crafting stores (Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and JoAnn's) always have cinnamon scented pine cones in fall and winter. It really hits you when you walk in the doors.
I was on a business trip with a few Brits in Boston. I am a local to New England so I was used to the local scents. We had a few drinks earlier and were driving to a restaraunt when the wonderful stank of a skunk wafted into the car. I have never in my life laughed so hard. My Brit friends had never smelled a pew kitty in their life and theie reaction was hilarious. Gagging, wretching, and my laughter made them laugh at the same time. Their facial expressions were hilarious.
Thank you for teaching me "pew kitty!"
@@julespumachu Probably from the cartoons of Pepe Le Pew focusing his attentions on a black cat who got some white paint on her back.
I used to find the skunk smell really horrible and intolerable, then I started working EMS and found that compared to some poorly run nursing homes the smell of a skunk is rather mild.
I grew up in a semi-urban area, so usually the only time I smelled skunk was during summer vacation road trips. A few years ago, I was in a car with a woman (from Peru) who had never smelled skunk before, and in comes that signature scent. So I'm there with a happy nostalgic half smile, thinking about vacations, and she shoots me a dirty look. I don't think she quite believed me when I told her about skunks and summer vacations.
I noticed a lot of people like the smell of skunk. Elaine from Seinfeld: I LOVE skunk!
I like it in small doses. Never been sprayed by one.
It's almost like smelling one of my own farts but not quite.
Pepe La Pew was a Frenchman I believe.
After 'dogsitting" my daughter's dog for a couple weeks, I think I figured out that every COMMUNITY must have a different smell. I was driving my dog back home, which was an hour-and-a-half from my home. 99% of the drive is on an interstate. While I am still on the interstate - going 65 or 70, not slowing down yet - as I get nearer to my exit to go to the dog's home, he suddenly perks up and gets very excited. This happens every time I take him home. I can't help but think he is starting to smell his hometown!
My first dog could recognize the sound of the pickups from a half mile.
Thats so funny, when I was a kid my family had an ongoing joke that it “smells like home” since the freeway and frontage roads to our town smelled like skunk spray often (probably because the skunks got hit by cars). It was a semi rural small town next to the interstate.
I think it's more likely that your dog just recognized some landmark that he associated with being near home, but idk, maybe. You could try taking a different route home and seeing if he still recognizes when you're close
Yep, dogs know. Had Shepard that got excited about 20 -30 miles from home. I would roll the car window down just to see his response!!
❤❤❤❤@@shirleybalinski4535
When I went to college the downtown campus was surrounded by the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, A major brewery, the Wonder Bread factory, and the Usinger Sausage Factory. We could tell which way the wind was blowing depending on smell. The school also had a culinary program where students could pay $3 and dine on the food cooked by the culinary students. Gadzooks the food was great and abundant. Even though I was poor and youthfully clueless at the time, I consider those years some of the best in my life.
I once asked a British pastor who had relocated to the U.S. what the biggest difference he had noticed between the countries. He thought for a moment and then replied seriously: "Your robins are TOO BIG." Wow, I was expected something more profound. But it did turn out he was correct. When I looked it up, I discovered that the American robin has nothing whatsoever to do with the British robin, they aren't related. The colonists only called it a robin because it had a similar color, but they aren't in the same family of birds. Amazing how he found that so terribly annoying!
i knew they were unrelated, but I thought they were the same size. They look it in pictures.
Am I the only one that thought of "What is the laden weight of a sparrow?" "European or African?" "I don't knoooooooooooow"
@@JimAllen-Persona Swallow, not sparrow...
@@AndrewAMartin I stand corrected. :-)
One of my SIL is from Dublin, and her father visited a few times. He thought the eastern bluebirds on Missouri license plates were robins. Explained to him what they were, that the robins he knew didn’t exist on this continent. I also told him to brace himself for when he actually saw an American Robin. 😆
Growing up in the Rocky Mountains, I cannot imagine not knowing what a skunk is or the smell they make. I love this channel for the fun and the perspectives!
I always wondered... do they not have, well, skunky smelling weed outside of America? It obviously doesn't smell EXACTLY like a skunk, but it can be quite pungent and similar sometimes.
@@LadyBeyondTheWall True but really skunky weed up close smells like a skunk that's far away. A roadkill skunk on the yellow lines smells strong enough that you can taste it.
@@andrewdescant Oh yeah, absolutely. I just imagine it's maybe similar enough that they could imagine it being like 1,000x more pungent and literally in your nostrils? And maybe they'd sort of understand? 😂
Ikr? The neighbor's bush next to our driveway is the local skunk hook-up spot every spring. Directly under my bedroom window. Thank goodness we're on the 2nd floor.
Haven't smelled a skunk since the last time I was to the US, four years.
I grew up in a neighborhood that had been built by the Republic Steel Corp. the furnace was very close to the neighborhood as it was built for the steel mill employees. It had an awful smell when the furnace was in operation. So my parents moved from the neighborhood when I, the youngest of their children left home to serve in the USMC. They moved to a town that depended on a paper mill for most of the jobs. Out of the frying pan into the fire, lol. Paper mills smell horrible.
Can confirm. I have family down in Louisiana that live near a paper mill and the smell will stay with me forever. Semper Fi
Indeed. I visited International Falls, MN., and the smell of the paper mills was horrifying.
I'm a trucker. The first time I delivered to a paper mill I wondered how anyone could stand to live within 10 miles of one. Then I drove past a full stock yard in July. I'll take the paper mill, anyday.
@@abasis.baruti9819 yep, my parents when they moved to the town with the paper mill just happened to be lucky enough to have a purina hog farm about 5 acres away and it seemed like the farmers would go turn the ground almost every day around 5:30 pm. My parents prayed that the paper mill would overpower the smell of the hog farm.
Northern Wyoming here. Sugar beet refineries must be the local equivalent XD
As an extra part of the defense, a skunk usually will spray the face of something coming to try to eat them. The spray apparently stings the eyes and if the attacker's mouth is open, will be overwhelming to most of their senses. Someone I met from Switerland had spent a summer in NH thinking that the smell was pollution from some nearby factory. When he found out it was from an animal, he looked at me in disbelief and asked, "How many?" I laughed because I found myself imagining a herd of rampaging skunks, but managed to assure him, just one shy little creature. His mind was totally blown.
Gotta admit that cinnamon rolls, cinnamon toast, and cinnamon candles all signify Autumn to me and the beginning of the holiday season.
Also want to point out that cities have different smells, too. Especially noticeable if you live rurally.
I had cinnamon toast for breakfast with crispy bacon.....😍
Ever been on the New York City subway? That’ll be a treat for the old olfactory senses. 😂😂
I love cinnamon all year long!
I live in the Dairy Capital of the US, Central Valley California and you are so right about cities with smells. Of course, I don't even notice it but I've had friends from other metropolis cities visit and one of the first things they say is "what is that smell"? I usually say, " the smell of money" hahaha🤣
Yes. Thank you for this comment. City of Budapest smells (delightfully) of pastries, from dawn to about 10 AM. By 10 o'clock, most of this nice fragrance is gone, probably because by this time most of the pastries are in peoples' stomachs. They eat these super-sized, freshly made pastries while walking along to work or school or whatever, and the fragrance disappears until the following morning.
City of London (in my experience) smells like a damp, moldy dungeon. Maybe because some of the old dungeons are still under the streets. This is not a really terrible smell. Just makes the whole place smell anciently old.
New York City smells like a combination of freshly made and day-old knishes. Knish smell is kind of nice, in my opinion.
City of Prague smells like one big cauldron of Darjeeling, Jasmine, and Bergamot Tea, all swished together. Cafe walls have been saturated with the scent of tea leaves, from centuries in the past. Makes for an unforgettable, and pleasant, cafe experience. Thank you for your comment.
when I was 12 I had two skunks that had their scent glands removed. 'stinky and blinky' they were curious and got into all sorts of trouble but mostly they were cuddly and cat like, especially their style of play.
Pet skunks are so awesome! With the glands removed, they are less stinky than ferrets.
Mustelids (weasels) and Felinids (cats) are more similarly related than many realize.
Sounds like a plot for a Disney Cartoon.
Not surprising. I lived in a culdesac at the edge of city limits once, saw wild skunks playing with house cats often. I'd see them chasing each other or taking turns pouncing at each other in the front yard in the evenings
@@snesguy9176 I believe it. They don't always spray. At a community college I went to, I stepped out the door of a class and as skunk was stepping around the corner of the building and we both startled each other. We both stopped and stepped back equally the same. For god only knows what reason, he would not leave. So we walked side by side out to my car without a problem.
I lived in the Netherlands for a year and really appreciate your video. I tell people who have never gone to another country that the there are sensory differences like smells and even how the air feels. It is weird but all these sensory differences do affect you in strange ways. It made me homesick after about a month or so.
I had this experience when I moved from the coast of America to deep inland.
When I went to Italy I noticed the street lights were a different shade, way more orange than here in the US! Fascinating differences you don't think about when you first travel!
Before I travelled Europe, I wondered what it would "feel" like, in this way you describe. I'm glad to know now, and sometimes things remind me of it and I want to return.
I live in the desert of far west Texas, so there is typically zero humidity. Imagine my disbelief on a trip to Dallas-Fort Worth when I could literally see the humidity (visible water vapor in the morning).
Interestingly enough I thought I had a skunk around my house. I kept asking if anyone else could smell it or had seen it. I did not have a skunk. It was my teenager and her friends. 😂
Your teenager might have been smoking pot.
Fun fact! My uncle was an "interior architect" for major casinos around the world. In the US, they tend to place certain machines in the path of the bakery exhaust or pump in a vanilla/cinnamon mix freshener. People congregate to those machines.
Which, knowing how casinos operate, are probably the machines with the worst payoffs.
@@almostfm Yep! He always said they put the better paying slots by the exits to get ya as you're leaving.
So do supermarkets
@@sallyintucson Wow! I've heard that other businesses utilise interior architects to increase profits, but never thought of markets! Makes sense. Nothing worse than shopping when you're hungry. Now I know why I'm lured by cinnamon rolls when I normally never buy them.
Totally true... It's an ancient practice... You can read it in Egyptian hieroglyphs, even... Picture the cartoon of smoke-fingers carrying the customer by the nose to the POS
One of my favorite memories I have with my grandma is her making me cinnamon toast for breakfast. Love cinnamon.
I laughed really hard at "ugh, skunk" because you're right, that's exactly what someone always says when you smell one. I've grown up in Kentucky and smelling skunks on the road is nothing new, but a couple of years ago I drove by one I could actually see on the side of the road. I guess the ones you usually smell on the highway are further away because this thing was so foul it actually made my eyes water and made me cough. I was worried that smell was going to stick, it was so thick and horrible. Thankfully it didn't (or no one at work had the heart to say so, anyway).
Must have just happened. There is such a massive difference in the smell of a typical roadkill skunk that's normally just sulfurous, and a fresh spray (or kill, I guess) that is so diversely awful. It smells chemical and organic all at once and it stings even if it's been an hour or two. And it **feels thick in your nose, just like you said it feels as if it's sticking to things.
I have a cat who loves the smell of cinnamon funny enough. Every holiday season when we're doing our baking and we pull out the cinnamon he's right there. Dancing around our feet squeaking at us like a little madman.
My favorite scent is the rain during monsoon season in AZ. The Creosote bushes let out a wonderful smell when they get wet in the summer. Even if it’s not raining in your area you can catch that unique scent. Mmmmmm rain is coming!
I was going to say that too. Except I live in New Mexico, Chihuahuan Desert. I always say desert rain is my favorite smell.
Born and raised in Chandler!!! And you’re absolutely right. The smell of the Sonoran desert before and after a good, hard rain is the absolute best, followed by the sight of the spectacular sunset. 🙂
That's called petrichor! It's one of my favorite words.
Rain smell makes you happy!
I also have never been inside an Abercrombie store either because even being within 10 feet of the entrance is unbearable
I walk very quickly past the entrance, but never enter because the smell is so strong - and my nose isn't that very good. It always reminded me of the ghetto boys at school who would bathe in cologne in order to hide other smells.
I do not know of the smell but the A&F advertising campaign is reputed to have repulsed many.
@@kirbyculp3449 the CEO of the company is quite repulsive as well. I long for the A&F of old, that sold clothing and gear for adults...
Honestly, its one of the reasons I stopped going to malls completely.
I'm older than a lot of youtube watchers are, but years ago, you would walk into a department store (like all sorts of stores that don't exist or barely exist now--Macy's, etc.) and some lady just might spray you with perfume totally without consent. I'm on the autism spectrum and I'd get frantic avoiding the perfume dept. I think unheard of today. They might get lawsuits.
Fun to watch. I was born with no sense of smell and almost no sense of taste, so I find it quite amusing and interesting to get wind of others' experiences. Thanks for the journey!
I lost my sense of smell and taste for a couple of weeks after having covid. It was bizarre and upsetting. I couldn’t taste any food at all so I ended up just filling up on toast. I couldn’t smell aftershave or whether my clothes were fresh or anything. I was incredibly relieved when it came back. I don’t envy you at all but I suppose you’re used to it.
I have completely lost my sense of smell after Covid 13 months ago. My sense of taste is almost gone and what I can taste just tastes wrong. The only time it was a positive was the dog was sprayed by a skunk and my daughters brought her INTO THE HOUSE to give her baths. Apparently our house smelled like skunk for 9 days. The dog didn't learn and was sprayed again a week later. This was in our own backyard. Peroxide, baking soda and Dawn dish soap if you need to know how to combat skunk spray. Tomato juice does NOT work. Also wash the dog outside first.
I would have to add citrus blossoms. Anyone from the southwest just waits for spring and all the citrus trees to bloom. It’s heavenly.
Cinnamon, the spice Brits look at but seldom use. I should preface my tongue in cheek comment by explaining I am an American expat married to a Brit born and raised in London. Before my husband imported me to the Britain, I naively assumed the only major differences in our countries was the coins and bills ($ vs.£), that we drive on the opposite side of the road from one another, and those luscious British accents. So imagine my culture shock at realizing I now lived in a truly foreign country. 🤗 So back to Cinnamon. I was pleased to be invited around to dinner at friends' and offered a slice of Apple pie or a deszert bowl of blackberry and Apple Crumble, only to take a bite and find there was no spice in either, at all. Bramley apples are a cultural gift as far as England is concerned and they need nothing to make them taste any better, except of course the ubiquitous custard poured over every dessert except Banoffee Toffee. I found Bramley apples insipid tasti g with a nasty, gritty texture. They break down when cooked and becom apple mush. By contrast I made my apple pies with a mixture of Braeburn, Pink Lady, Coxes Orange, andGranny smith, adding in lemon juice, lemon zest, brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, salt, and dabs of butter. The same for blackberry apple crumble, and my crumble was more than Tesco crumble mix and water; I used flour, cold butter, rolled oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon. I suspect the plainness of much English food comes from having had food rationed from 1939-1957 with WWII. Brits made do with what little was available and their children grew up used to this fare, fixing it the same way.
English food has always been bland. The most popular English dish is Chicken Tikka Masala. Go figure.
I am afraid the plainness of English cooking dates back further than WWII. I spent my high school years in St Mary’s county Maryland, the oldest English Roman Catholic settlement in the US. It was very isolated until the 40s, to the point where some folks still spoke with an English accent. The local food was mostly of the old English variety, and always seemed to be lacking in spices. The people themselves are lovely though, if you ever get a chance to visit.
I think it's more than food rationing. That might be part of it but once rationing ended, even after 18 years, those who remembered how to cook would have gone back to it and made sure younger family members learned.
@@krisnayres I went to school briefly at Great Mills. Didn't like Holy Face parish as much as St. Joseph's (I think) in Pomfret. Lots of gorgeous fields and woods.
@@krisnayres That 'explains', a lot..Thank You. None-to-sparse seasonings?.. is just strange to American palates, who tend to utilize the variety of spices as they've been taught as well ..Yes, tbh so perfectly 'understandable' really.
I'm so glad you're here smelling stuff with us 🤠
I used to work in a hospital at the top of a hill above Heinz company.We could always know what they were making each day from the smells that drifted up the hill. Ketchup had a strong vinegar scent - soups mostly smelled like beef or chicken, mustard had a scent all its own.
That reminds me of a rugby field I used to play on that was near to a liquor bottling plant. It was never a problem unless they were steam cleaning their new shipment of recycled bottles, and then it was a big problem. It was this undefinable heavy, yeasty odour that hung in the air for hours.
Freshly cut grass smells so good. When my dad was building the garage I loved the small of wood being cut.
A skunk as a pet usually has the glands removed so they don't spray up the house. I am usually the one to announce "ugh, skunk!". One thing I have learned is the difference in barbecue sauces based on the area it is done in; here in North Carolina many times it is vinegar based so it has a different smell than one that is mayonnaise based, sweet tomato based or cumin/Worcestershire based.
OM Goodness! I live in south Florida and I an avid bicyclist. I’m constantly passing passed areas that smell like deceased skunks. Uchh!
I usually smell it and think someone's having a really good day
North Carolina BBQ is my favorite, and I used to not be able to find it anywhere here in Ohio! Thankfully, it’s gaining more attention, and becoming more available.
@@vespista1971 it's actually eastern Carolina barbecue that you like. NC has 2 kinds, the other kind we don't like to talk about. 😂
@@lavenderoh Don't forget the cole slaw! I had a food truck in Biloxi do it that way for me. The cook came out to talk to me; he said "That's how they do it up north...." lol
Growing up in Baltimore, I got used to the smell of spice. One of the worlds largest spice companies (McCormick & Co. - the sell in Europe too) is headquartered there, and when I was a kid their main warehouse was right in the middle of downtown, so the whole city smelled like a spice cake (Domino Sugar, as well as flour and yeast companies were also in town, to add to the "cake" smell). McCormick moved outside of the beltway, but spice ships still come and go from the port, and when a ship carrying 10,000 tons of spice is in port you smell it.
The other Maryland smell is crab spice (mostly "Old Bay"). Maryland's state sports are jousting, and putting Old Bay on everything. Everything.
Old Bay is great on popcorn!
My first job after college was down the street from a Quaker Oats facility and a Purina Feeds mill. Some mornings, it smelled like Cap'n Crunch cereal, others like Dog Chow. The bad mornings were when it smelled like a mix of both, lol...
And I love Old Bay - on chicken wings, Utz Crab Chips, crab fries, yum!
Your comment was very enriching to me, who only hears of Baltimore and never having been.
I used to work on tow boats in area where the Mississippi joins with the Illinois and Ohio rivers at St. Louis. There is a nauseating smell in that area, where they roast hops to make beer. And it is not easy to get used to.
I could always tell when my boat was in that area, just by that odor.
The other smell is Devine!
Growing up in the Northeast, we used barbecue as a catch all term similar to the usage in Britain, but also to refer to the grill itself and to cooking anything on it
The air and water are markedly better and cleaner today than what I would experience as I would cross from coast to coast every few years on home visits, starting in the 1950's.
Hopefully you never smell barbecue and skunk at the same time.
😂😂
If you do, run in the house.
That must be god awful
What about barbecued skunk?
Unfortunately I have 😰 we were cooking out many years ago and dogs went chasing something 🦨🤢💔
There's some truth to that naming thing.
A lot of American companies used to give themselves names that started with A so they COULD be the first one listed in the phone book.
You had a lot of Acmes, Ajaxes, AAAs. And statistically it WAS the first one customers would call.
That was the joke with the coyote always ordering from ACME. It meant he just ordered from the first company in the yellow pages under "rocket skates" or whatever.
Meep meep
Or the the double AA at the beginning.
A1, Advanced . . . .
In my hometown in Utah, the smell of skunks was so common that I get very nostalgic when I smell it. It reminds me of fun times in the vacant field behind the Kubotas’ house. I like the smell. I know I’m supposed to hate it, but I actually like it.
Same! No surprise, I'm also from Utah.
I used to be a huge stoner and the smell of skunk has the same effect on me lol it kind of grosses me out that I kind of like the smell but I think it just brings back nostalgia for my high school/college days which makes me like it
I found the bit about cinnamon particularly interesting. I am from
The Midwest originally, and as I have migrated to different parts of the US, what I have discovered about myself is that I really enjoy simple food, what people in most of the US would call bland. I don’t like to put stuff on stuff either. This is very hard in the American South. They just can’t leave stuff alone down here. I think I would very much enjoy British food. 😆😆😆
Oh Laurence, if you ever come to dinner at my house, I must remember to not serve you our roasted potatoes! One time I was preparing the potatoes to be roasted and accidentally added cinnamon instead of garlic powder! I quickly realized I had the wrong powder by the smell! 😂 Instead of tossing the lot, I decided to just add the garlic powder on top of the cinnamon and surprisingly, it was pretty good! I make my famous cinnamon garlic potatoes every autumn now! Cheers!
I'm gonna have to try this, or something like it. Maybe I might use pumpkin pie spice 🤔😉 it might be good for Thanksgiving
@@jennit.i.murphy118: I actually make savoury roasted sweet potatoes with garlic, cinnamon and Himalayan salt!
I put cinnamon in my lasagna---a Canadian friend turned me on to that.
@@jennit.i.murphy118 I use pumpkin pie spice on roasted sweet potatoes. It's good.
I must had, don't try Cincinnati chili either!!! It's secret ingredient is cinnamon.
I understand that Yankee Candles have made their way across the pond. That store and bath and body works also drive me from the mall. Of course, I only buy candles with cinnamon. Have you experienced the cinnamon brooms sold in the Fall? Best thing ever! When I asked my 12yo son if I should date again, his response was 'no, it will make the house smell different!'. I hadn't even thought of how important smell is to homey comforts and human interaction. Kids, eh?
Bur Yankee Candle now makes bacon scented candles....js
@@LindaC616 my waistline can’t handle that. Lol.
Oh kids. Lol.
Are the cinnamon brooms kind of like the cinnamon pine cones? There's the bitter/savory powdered cinnamon that's common in food and then there's the cinnamon oil that gets put in candles, pine cones and "red hot" candies. They're completely different scents and the latter makes me sick. Unfortunately, they're both very common in the fall.
@@BonaparteBardithion Hrm, I would guess it is the cinnamon oil. It can be overwhelming and lasts for months. I have bad reactions to flowery scents, just thinking of them has me feeling bilious. My local grocery sells the brooms, which are about 2 ft long and decorative, near the floral department. Nightmare placement for both of us, I'd say. :)
The thing about the skunk smell is that the odor itself - while not exactly refreshing - isn't really that bad. It's the pungency that makes it unpleasant. It's the olfactory equivalent of having a spotlight shined directly into your eyes.
As a Texan, I love that you can describe you objective "American" descriptions without a bunch of "WE AREN'T LIKE THAT!" comments. Love ya bud😁
😂😂😂. Dude you are killing me, and I agree about the stench of A&F! You are the best!
On a nice Saturday night, if you're not grilling, somebody else in the neighborhood is and you can smell the barbeque hinging in the air. Or the smell of a firepit burning. Very nice and atmospheric.
BBQs only happen around here during the warm seasons, but there's a similar experience during the winter when people start running all their indoor fireplaces.
I’ve encountered live skunks in the wild several time and thank goodness they did not see me as a predator-have never been skunked and even composed a skunk song. Also if you ever want to experience a smell you might describe as heavenly, I certainly do, get yourself to the desert southwest to a grove of Acacia trees in bloom.
I've had the same experience with skunks. It is when they were killed on the road that I have smelled them.
The shopping mall smell is formaldehyde and other chemicals they use to "finish" the fabric on clothing and other fabric goods like duvets and throw pillows. It's literally sickening and I've walked out of shops because I couldn't tolerate it.
I can’t be the only one that confuses skunk and 420 enjoyment smells
You definitely aren't!
Um kinda, but skunk scent on your dog is definitely nothing like "420" 🤢
@@Og-Judy I had a dog full of skunk butt a week ago. It’s worse then wet homeless dog.
My mom always said it smelled like rope burning
Weed smells nothing like a skunk, but I’ve heard you have to smoke it to smell it
Cinnamon is healthy; so; it’s a trade off for the sugar in the desert. Lol works for me!
When my ex visited the States from the UK I had never been there and he told me it smelled like butter everywhere. I can’t say I noticed that when I eventually visited, but there were definitely lots of new and unusual aromas.
Was he visiting the south? 😂
I am an American who studies the UK primarily by observing comedy shows and Doctor Who, which may or may not be a comedy show. I have noticed that the word "Dettol" comes up in British comedy on occasion, which seems to be a cleaner/disinfectant product. Maybe _that_ is the smell you smelled (smelt to you Britons) at Heathrow.
We were in Paris last year and noticed the same thing, that it just smells different than the U.S, not bad, just different. Also, the crows speak with a different “accent.”
Are the crows bigger assholes too?
Hey, our unofficial motto in America is that "if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing."
Fair enough
this philosophy is why the united states army created the bat bomb...look it up...and you're welcome
The smell I noticed after stepping off the plane at Heathrow was diesel fumes. This smell was prevalent anywhere in London, but completely dissipated by the time we got to Yorkshire. I’ve lived in the LA area and, even when they had the terrible smog problem in the ‘70s, I didn’t notice such a strong smell of diesel even with LA traffic.
A good follow up to the episode about sounds. I was aware that natural sounds can vary from region to region, never mind between countries. But I never thought about smells.
A lot of Europeans tell me root beer reminds them strongly of disinfectants, so maybe some form of sassafras extract is the scent used there?
Have you ever used the spray cleaner called Simple Green? To me, it smells strongly of sassafras.
It's the wintergreen that causes that. Most root beers haven't been made with sassafras since the 1960s, due to the carcinogenic properties of safrole, a compound found in sassafras. Instead they use a mix of other plant extracts, usually including wintergreen. While wintergreen is a popular flavor in the North America (e.g., in Wint-O-Green flavor Life Savers candies, as well as in most root beers) it's mostly used for medical products and disinfectants in Europe.
@@tim1724 I think safrole's carcinogenic properties have been way overblown. It is carcinogenic, but not nearly as strongly as a lot of other products still in widespread use. However, the fact it is a precursor compound for lysergic acid...
Some of the UK reaction channels that are sent American things don't like Root Beer because they say it tastes like "medicine" - which is weird to me, as an American, lol. Artificial grape tastes like medicine to me though.
@@LadyBeyondTheWall Yummy Dimetapp!
When we were trying to sell our home, we always set up the bread machine so that it would make the house smell great during the open house or a house tour. And while I do love cinnamon, I also think the smell of vanilla (think sugar cookies) is very nice too.
I owned an apartment house and often would hold open houses for a vacant apartment. I often used the oven to bake rolls for my lunch and many people commented on how ''homey'' it felt. My other trick was to cut up green apples and dump them into a pot of water. I added brown sugar, cinnamon, and cloves and brought it to a simmer inside the apartment. This was my Fall/cold weather go to air freshener and it certainly smelled better than new paint and carpet.
@@kimmer6 I do something really similar- I use mulling spices, orange 🍊 peel/zest and if I have them, fresh cranberries. I’m going to try your apple concoction! The older I get, I can’t handle fake scents, but love organic real scents. In the summer, I use lemons and limes in a mini crock pot. Super fresh smelling!
@@weloverescuedogs2820 Awesome! Sometimes I do the mulling spices peels, cranberries and cloves. Tonight I burnt chestnut shells...and ate the chestnuts!
I love vanilla and cinnamon, thats why I try to avoid both in my fragrance and as flavorings. I feel like Americans add vanilla to everything, which sounds fine but notice how nobody can taste the vanilla in just plain vanilla ice cream. I don't want to go nose blind to my favorite things
@@evil1by1 Depends on the quality of the vanilla in the ice cream or in scented things. A lot of the less expensive stuff uses an artificial substitute that just isn't as rich or as potent because real vanilla is expensive.
Speaking only for Chicago, one of the best aromas ever is the Blommer Chocolate Company factory on the NW side of the Loop (business district) just west of the Apparel Center. They make chocolate products for many brands, including World's Finest Chocolate (you know, the ubiquitous fundraising candy bars). The factory starts churning out cocoa base, cocoa powder, and candy in the afternoon, and the loop smells like Tollhouse cookies for the rest of the day. It's taunting and wonderful at the same time.
When traveling down the road there were always two very distinctive smells I remember in Oregon. Paper mills you could literally smell them from about a mile away and then dead skunks. We often said it was likely a skunk that got hit somewhere. The paper mills have a strong pungent smell that is almost like mildew. And it would just hang heavy in the air. I have no idea how people lived around it without losing their sense of smell.
Ahhh the Willamette Valley. Ugh!
I lived on St. Simon's Island when I was 5. It was a beautiful area with beaches and tiny frogs & other things kids love. Unfortunately, when the wind was right the paper mill stench was overwhelming. Even worse because I apparently have a sensitive nose. 😄
America use a *lot* of pine and citrus scents in our cleaning products. Highly distinctive.
Saigon (sweet) cinnamon is very common in our autumnal cooking. Dutch (hot) cinnamon, not so much. Unless you like real Mexican food. Or 'Red Hots' candy.
Skunk musk doesn't *normally* bother me, at a distance. Once, however, one of my dogs bothered a VERY big skunk. She came into the house literally *dripping* in skunk musk. It was like inhaling thumbtacks.
Skunk stench has a highly sulfuric base. Anything that breaks the molecule will reduce the stench - mild acids (vinegar) and hydrogen peroxide, especially.
Tomato juice. Works like a charm.
Autumnal cooking? I was expecting Laurence to mention pumpkin.
@@bigscarysteve cinnamon was part of my autumn routine LONG before "Pumpkin Spice" was a thing. I expect itll still be so when people forget Pumpkin Spice ever existed.
@@JV-pu8kx tomato juice, in my (dire) personal experience is a very weak tool.
1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1 tablespoon Dawn dish detergent (or other mild liquid soap)
1 gallon warm water.
Mix up, use to scrub whichever animal or person got 'skunked.' Scientifically designed and tested. I can personally attest to the efficacy.
*DO NOT STORE LEFTOVERS.*
The hydrogen peroxide will decompose and pressurize any containers. Not only will it no longer work, it will blow out and make a god-awful mess.
Also: Will mildly bleach animals' coats and anything else it hits.
It works thusly: The hydrogen peroxide breaks up the stench molecules. The baking soda neutralizes the resulting mildly acidic compounds. The soap is a surfactant, allowing you to get the mix all the way down to the skin. The water, of course, is the carrier.
Tomato juice is mildly acidic, which makes it mildly effective, and the organics in the juice entrain the musk to carry it away. The mix above, though, is a silver bullet.
@@lairdcummings9092 pumpkin spice (the combination of cinnamon and other warming spices, used to season pumpkin) has its origins at least as early as the dish Pumpion Pye from 1675. McCormick started selling the blend in a single bottle in 1934. Does your autumnal cinnamon routine predate either of those?
ahh cinnamon....in buns, hot cocoa, French toast, pancakes... the list goes on and on...
Pet skunks have their scent glands removed, so they don't smell at all. They are pretty friendly and nice when they are socialized.
I remember when my mom would send boxes of goods from the US to the Philippines. The box smelt so good and there were no perfumes in the boxes. The Clark Air Force base office also has the same smell apparently. When I first came to the states, I remember smelling it as well. Now I’m just used to it. Whenever I do go home to the Philippines, i do get comments that I smell like the US 😂
As a kid, I always enjoyed the smell of the ocean when my family spent spring break in Myrtle Beach, SC each year. But after attending college in Florida, I no longer notice that specific seasalt air when I go to the beach anymore.
When I moved to Southeast Asia I realized that baby powder and baby oil doesn't have that typical scent I was used to. I had always assumed those scents were universal. I have to go buy my J&J baby powder from an import store.
It's one thing I noticed when being in Germany for two years, everything smells different there. Most notably drugstores like Rossmann are different smelling than a Walgreens
In the spring, a very common smell is cow manure or mulch. Not sure if it's the same in other countries, but I know spring is here when I smell those.
My Depression Era mama taught us to sprinkle cinnamon on the electric burner on the stove top to make the house smell better. We also lit a match in the bathroom to, um, freshen it too. There were always matches on the tank lid of the toilet.
a buddy of mine worked at abercrombie and says they were required to wear like 3 or 4 layers of abercrombie clothes, he was "we'd spray entire cans a day of body spray into the air ALL THE TIME!"
I am very adverse to AF, I think it's a store for old gays to check out twinks? Am I wrong? Do people buy $300 t shirts?
@@gaywizard2000 I think it's a store who's main customers shopped there in the mid 90's and still tries to shop there now. I know back in the 90's it was a terrible place to work and most of your paycheck even with your discount would go towards their requirement that you constantly wear their clothing w/o wearing the same thing every day.
Talking about just eating unseasoned food is the most British thing I’ve heard all week
I'm allergic to cinnamon. And now knowing it's not overwhelmingly everywhere across the pond makes me want to go even more.
Yes, skunks are little stinkers but they are adorable! Many years ago a friend of mine had a pet skunk and it was the sweetest, most affectionate little critter you'd ever want to meet.
One thing that wasn't mentioned - pet skunks have their sent gland removed.
I used to work with a guy who had quite a few de-scented skunks as pets. They were really nice animals.
Quite a few?!?!
They're extremely curious and get into everything. Sometimes that trait can be annoying, but mostly it's endearing.
@@gaywizard2000 Yeah, he usually maintained between one dozen to two dozen. Had a really big place for them all to run around and such.
@@Uncultured_Barbarian465 why? You're not allowed to keep wild animals without permits etc where I live!
I had 2 British roommates & and an Irishman roomate when I lived in Silicon Valley in a house rental! Fun times for sure but As the only 'yank' in the house, i was always subjected to listen to crap they did not like or could not forgive and found revolting'. The unanimous thing was our crappy tea and the horrible "Root Beer" They hated it and could Not believe how we love it😄
My European classmates in college felt the same about root beer. They thought it tasted like toothpaste.
Many years ago my mates from back home in South Africa came to the US for a visit. I can't describe the look of horror on their faces after taking a swig of Dr. Pepper. However, they went nuts over corn dogs and ate them every day.
I'm American and can't stand root bear soda, candies or anything with that flavor. It tastes like poison and mothballs.
Spearmint/woodlands is a cleaning smell in the UK. In the US it’s for edible things or toothpaste.
I grew up w/ parents from the commonwealth, and I now go back and forth between US and UK. So, I know what you mean. Growing up in US required lots of cultural shifting between standard American practices at school and my very British-influenced parents at home.
That cleaning product in UK and elsewhere is DETTOL. It has a very distinct disinfectant smell. In the States, my mom still buys it from small (usually Caribbean) shops near her in nyc.
When I stayed in Chiswick this summer, the honeysuckle, and some tree unfamiliar to me, was in bloom. There was a strong perfume that permeated the air in my flat, the underground trains, walks in the parks, even Sainsbury’s ….and I miss it! I love London in the summer!
I have a lot of honeysuckle Mrs. Meyers products, the smell is very calming and clean 🧼
Oh, you should plant yourself some, if you're able. We have honeysuckle in many parts of the US. I plant different aromatic plants to feed the bees and scent the air at different times of day. In the morning, I love heirloom sweet peas and white climbing roses. In the evenings, my favorites are jasmine and honeysuckle. I plant them well away from each other. 🙂💐
Certain types of honeysuckle have become invasive pest plants in the Americas and Europe, so be careful which species you get. They can get into forests and choke off any other undergrowth plants.
Nicely done, and well thought out. I can never get these few minutes back.
American here 😂 you Crack me up !!! Always wanted to know more things about Britain so this is great !! Love your channell 😊
Having had a skunk live under my house for the winter, I found that putting peppermint oil around the house converted or disguised the smells so I could sleep. But it must be the real peppermint oil that you get in the tiny bottle. If you buy a big bottle that says it's peppermint oil, it's actually a petroleum based smell-alike that doesn't work.
real peppermint oil can be fatal for cats
@@harryballsak1123 good point
Bullet for the skunk
But is it for Skunks?! That would be just fine with me. The family of skunks living in the neighbors behind me assaults my sleep regardless of season and even through closed windows. Ugh
Sooo past all the deterrents that haven’t worked at all!
Britain is oddly appealing all of a sudden.
@@YouthfulOne So you don't care if the local cats or perhaps your own gets sick? Skunks are only going to spray if they feel threatened if they are that threaten all the time they will move. I think you exaggerate
According to Google the most popular candle scents in the US are citrus and floral types.I have heard several Brits talk about the smell of cinnamon including in the Lovejoy books where the title character when visiting said he thought America floated on an underground sea of cinnamon.Most BBQ is smoked with Hickory,that's the "BBQ" smoke you probably think of.
This video reminds me of a French friend of ours, who sometimes refers to the "toxic levels of cinnamon" that Americans are so fond of. Yes, we do use more cinnamon in everything, but also, most of the cinnamon used in the US is a type that is spicier and less floral than the type of cinnamon used in Europe.
The real cinnamon comes from Sri Lanka as a rolled stick and never powdered.and more expensive. The low-grade cinnamon is another part of the plant, called Cassia and may be powdered or more firm and less delicate stick.. If the recipe used cinnamon is only one of the seasonings, you will not taste the difference between the two. If it is main flavoring you might want to shell out for the real Sri Lankan cinnamon. .
Love these videos!
I worked at a Michaels craft store while I was in college and holy shit! The amount of cinnamon pinecones and brooms I was unpacking and checking out.. I opened a case of the brooms one time and I don't know if they had molded or what but the smell was horrendous and I have despised the smell of cinnamon ever since. And dried eucalyptus and lavender. All disgusting.
Oh...eucalyptus. I HATES it, my precious. There was a shop, Pier One, when I was a teen, and I hated even walking past it because it just REEKED of eucalyptus.
Apparently koala poop smells of eucalyptus because they eat so much of it. Ugh.
I'm that way with vanilla. I absolutely hate anything scented with vanilla except for food, which ironically isn't very strong.
Yes, as a once Micheal's customer I can back u up on that... artificial cinnamon is evil.
I hate the smell of cinnamon air fresheners. I’m not real crazy about the taste either, except on cinnamon rolls.
Although I love the smell of cinnamon, those scented pine comes actually make me sick - it’s not the same as edible cinnamon - which is beautiful!!!!
Hah! Did not know the UK did not have skunks. Wow, what a rude awakening that smell must have been. Yep, as others have posted, I've had to try to get that smell out of a couple dogs and it's near impossible.
My golden once got nailed in the middle of the forehead. It was not a fun night. The groomers used nasturtium leaves pressed against the fur and then washed the fur. I'd never heard of this, but it worked. 🤷♀
Skunk spray has evolved, for some reason, to bond on the molecular level with pelts and skin. Baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, plus a tbls of blue Dawn dish soap-mix in a bucket with a gallon of water. Sponge on, rub in, let sit, rinse off. Takes 2x if the dog was within 10ft. Use Nature’s Miracle around the face and ears. Works a treat.
The forests in Alaska have a sweet smell from the birch trees. The whole state smells sweet. Lovely!
Paper mills are pungent within about an 8 mile radius, it is an overwhelming smell in rural America. Another is the dairy/feed lot concentrated areas. Artesia NM to Roswell its hard to breathe the smell of waste gas is so strong. There are a few places in the Texas & Oklahoma panhandles as well. Gray fox can also smell a lot like skunk. Sometimes, the skunk smell isn't skunk.
Skunks are always around out here in rural Michigan, and they spray a lot in the Summer. Nothing better than sleeping with the windows open only to wake up at 2 AM to a smell that has invaded your dreams, closing the window and spraying an inordinate amount of Febreze to try to get the smell down. They can be different, too, from light to very pungent. It's probably mostly proximity to the spray zone, but I swear that some of them are dehydrated and giving off a more potent concentration than the others.
Yeah, I've got a family of skunks living nearby. They roam and snuggle about like dogs, but if you don't bother them, startle or fast move around them the odor is"negligible " but I've passed out from a full assault. Cute little buggers, tho.
Edit we are in town, in Ohio
I'm Michiganian and not only is this very familiar to me (on a hot night you may need to turn the a/c off abruptly) but I had a friend who had a family of skunks take up residence in her crawl space. Boy, was that a horrible time for them. We got rather used to the smell, though.
I remember being a kid, sleeping and waking up to a horrible smell and all our fire alarms going off. We rushed outside to realize it was a skunk. At least I got to go back to bed.
I was a city kid and very familiar with the smell of skunks. However now I own a dog… and one night when he was young he decided to mess with one. It was hands down the funniest and most horrifying night for us. I could not believe the smell- it burned my eyes and made me gag. It’s was overwhelming. He slept in the garage for a few nights. Took a few baths in a hydrogen peroxide solution to get the scent off. Hunting dogs. *luckily he never made that mistake again
I went through the odors section of a department store once, and had to flee for my life. had to get clear out of the store before the air cleared enough for me to breathe, again.
Perfume/cologne sections of stores are horrendous. I feel like I need a gas mask when I have to walk through them.
@@Blondie42 at least they've stopped assaulting us with perfume as we walk in the store...
@@moosehead482 In terms of A&F I wouldn't know, they closed their only local store a long time ago.
I was referring to makeup sections in Macy's where you had to walk through the cloud if exiting/entering through the entrance of the store on the second floor of the mall.
@@Blondie42 I know, I was referring to the "perfume ladies" who would spray you as you walked in...
@@moosehead482 I have vague memories of the perfume attacks in department stores. Wonder when they stopped doing it.
Once upon a time, Abercrombie and Fitch was a premiere hunting/outfitting store in New York City. One could walk in there with a roll of greenbacks, and walk back out with a complete camping outfit to include saddles, scabbards, guns, ammo, fry pans and a chit which when presented in Canada got one an entire pack string of horses. When Col. Townsend Whelen came back from months of trapping, and hunting in Canada he then sold the furs and packstring, getting all his money back.
This was Pre-Trudeau, of course.
It always amazes me how many different topics you can come up with related to Britain vs. US.
A long time ago, I was pushing a non-operational motorcycle home at night. I had to go through an area with long grass mostly covering the path. A skunk very near to me, ran into the thicker grass. I think that I woke it up. My point is that they don't automatically spray when you are very close.
Every time I've encountered them by accident, they just waddled away without a problem. Of course, I wasn't antagonizing them, either.
We used to have one in the neighborhood that shared a food dish that my next door neighbor put out with stray cats. No problems at all until another oh another neighbor found she was living underneath her house and it's her house and closed off the house 1 night after she went out. She sprayed and made the biggest noise trying to get back inside to her babies
My dogs had one cornered behind my house on night. One dog wouldn't leave the poor thing alone, and it was stomping, but didn't spray. It wasn't until I turned the water hose on the dog to distract him that the skunk saw an opening and ran. Both dogs chased after it into the dark. I heard them squawk, then smelled it. Skunk -2, Dogs - 0
I was under a jacked up car in a barn finishing up installing the transmission one night. I heard something behind my head and around my face came kitty cat. Nope, not a kitty. It was a skunk. It had some odor to it and it turned away as if it would spray me. All I could think of doing was to talk to it like I would do to a real stray car. It decided that I wasn't a threat and stayed around for about 5 minutes sniffing at various things near me.
Yeah, it takes time for them to build up a quantity of scent, so they tend to save it for when they need it. There's been a few times I've encountered skunks, and I just stood still until they walked away. If you don't act threatening they don't usually even seem bothered.
My wife is Danish and I lived in Denmark for 2 years (she's lived in the US 21 years) and I believe it's the different chemicals used to create the fragrances. Some of the stuff they use in the US is banned in parts of Europe. Up until a few years ago you couldn't buy Red Bull because Taurine was a controlled substance. Now, we went to Denmark last July and in the big box chain store Bilka they had Mr Clean and it smelled identical to Mr Clean in the US.
I've noticed that many supplements here aren't available in UK as they are rx only there.
But there you can buy belladonna that's been outlawed here.
It's best muscle relaxer in the world, natural and cheap.. that's why it's banned here.
30 yrs ago I had rx for it and bought it at Walgreens at 30 cents a pill.
I have fibro and the muscle relaxers, pain meds, etc are all garbage with horrific side effects.. that's the one medicine that I know absolutely would help me.
@@virginiarobbins7539 Wrong, Belladonna is still available in the US in Canada - I know, I have a prescription for it. Granted it does suffer from production shortages, but you can still get B&O supps, and any compounding pharmacy can blend some…stop spreading misinformation and useless conspiracies about big gov banning stuff 🙄 it’s not banned! SMFH!
Dude, you talked about being home for the first time in 11 years. America is your home now! Glad you are here, hope you are too!
Pet skunks often have their scent glands removed but it's not really necessary because they only spray if they're upset and if it's a pet that's been domesticated they're usually not annoyed enough to spray