You can recognize the smell of rain, fresh coffee, or a hospital hallway in an instant, but can you actually describe those smells without saying what they smell like?
This episode of PBS’s Otherwords explores why humans can distinguish up to a trillion different odors, yet struggle to find words for them. As it turns out, the problem isn’t our noses, it’s our language. And while English falls short when it comes to smell vocabulary, some cultures have dozens of precise words for scents that most of us would simply call “stinky.”
A fascinating exploration behind the language and culture of one of our most underrated senses.