The scent of imagination

[sathari]

Over in the welcome post, synecdochic  and I had a bit of a discussion about scent and imagination/synaesthesia, as a result of which I promised to post the following questions for the comm to play with!

- Do any of you have synaesthetic effects around your perfumes and other scented things? (For those who aren't feeling like clicking links, synaesthesia is when you have two or more senses that overlap or interact--- some of the most common ones are associating colors with letters or numbers, although just about any combination is possible--- the link is to a book called The Man Who Tasted Shapes, in which an MD was inspired to research synaesthesia as a result of a friend who could tell that chicken was undercooked because "it didn't have enough points on it". In this case, we'd be talking about sounds, colors, textures, etc., that your perfumes and other scents call up for you--- or other scent-related overlaps: did you buy a perfume because it smells like your favorite song, for example, or your favorite color?)

- Relatedly, do any of you associate particular scents with fictional characters (ones you follow in others' work, ones you work on yourself, ones who are both, etc.?)

I'll post my answers down below as an example, if anyone's curious.

(Suggested tags: meta; maybe something related to "things we relate to scents" or "ways we experience scents")

Comments

[feldman]

Looking over my notes there're a lot of color and texture words that are experiential, not poetic. There is definitely something plum purple and mineral green about BPAL's Apothecary (not plum fruit, just the color). I'm not used to actually thinking about scent, and then putting it into words, which is problematic in doing any kind of review--my notes function mainly to remind myself of the scent.

Which is a question I'd like to throw out there: how many here can recall scents when you're not smelling them? I can, but the spouse cannot--however, he's a hundred times better at identifying scents, as in, "there's a hint of rosemary in this". I find the ability to verbally identify scents magical.

[teaotter]

I'm better with kitchen spices, because I'm accustomed to tasting/smelling a dish and thinking "this needs something, what does it need?" and mentally going through the spice cabinet for what fills the hole.

But then again, that started with me actually going through the spice cabinet when I was learning to cook, so I think it's training?

[feldman]

Cooking definitely counts as training! Which explains how the cook in the house can suss recipes solely from taste.

[elialshadowpine]

I do the same thing! I spice by scent. :D

[sathari]

how many here can recall scents when you're not smelling them? I can, but the spouse cannot--however, he's a hundred times better at identifying scents, as in, "there's a hint of rosemary in this". I find the ability to verbally identify scents magical.

Seconding the ability to verbally identify scents as a form of magic! Ditto tastes for me; I can describe what things taste like, often synaesthetically, but identifying ingredients in common parlance? Not so much. As for remembering how things smell... I think I can, but I'm not sure how reliable it is, if that makes sense.

[byzantienne]

I can if I have a strong association with the scent -- an image, a scenario, a person, a color. Then I can call up the scent via that hook.