How are smell adjectives different_ ⏲️ 6 Minute English

TRANSCRIPT Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.  Neil Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil. Georgie And I'm Georgie. In English, there are many ways to describe smells. Poet Michael Rosen wanted to find words describing bad smells, and asked listeners of his BBC Radio 4 programme Word of Mouth for some suggestions. Michael Rosen Fusty, reeking, toiking, honking, humming, funky… Neil Smells are everywhere, whether they're bad smells like rotten eggs and sweaty feet, or pleasant ones like lavender and freshly baked bread. What smells do you especially like or dislike, Georgie? Georgie Well, I really enjoy the smell of leather, but something I really love is the smell of rain, which has a name. Do you know it, Neil? Neil Erm, I don't think I do actually. Georgie It's called petrichor. It's that smell of the ground just after it's rained. Neil Mmm. Georgie Neil, what about you? Which smells do you like? Neil Well, I don't think you can beat the smell of a freshly opened packet of ground coffee. Georgie Ooh, that's a good one. In this episode, we'll be learning the language of smells using some useful new words and phrases. And remember, you can find all the vocabulary plus a quiz and worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. Neil But first, I have a question for you, Georgie. One smell many people love is the smell of old books and the sentimental feeling it gives them for second-hand bookshops. In fact, there's even a word for it, but what is it? Is it: a)    vellichor, b)    petrichor, or c)    nidor? Georgie Well, we already know that petrichor is the smell of the ground after rain. I'm going to go with a) vellichor. Neil Well, we'll find out at the end of the programme. Listening to Michael Rosen's list – funky, reeking, humming and the rest – you might think English is good at describing smells, but in fact, all those words really mean is bad smelling. Georgie In English, we often describe smells by comparing them to other objects. For example, something nice might smell like a rose, while something bad might smell like rotten eggs, but there are few words to describe the actual smell itself. Neil Oxford University psychologist Asifa Majid has researched the subject of smell extensively. Here, she tells Michael Rosen a little of what she's found out on BBC Radio 4 programme Word of Mouth. Asifa Majid So, if we think about things like stinky or fragrant, they're definitely telling us that something is good or bad. But unlike colour terms, it doesn't really seem to be about the object it's describing. It seems to be a subjective thing. I could say, "Oh this perfume you think is really fragrant, I think is stinky," and both can be true. Georgie Describing smell is not like describing other senses. I might think a perfume is stinky, an adjective meaning bad smelling, while Neil might find the same perfume fragrant, meaning pleasant smelling. Both can be true. The point is that neither stinky nor fragrant say anything specific about the perfume's actual smell. Neil With our sense of taste, it's different. Words like spicy, sweet or salty create a common idea that we can all agree on, but that's not the case for smells. Asifa thinks this is because, unlike tastes and colours, smell words are subjective – they're based on personal opinions and feelings rather than objective truth. Georgie This might explain why our attitude to talking about smells is so different. Here's Asifa again, sharing some examples of how we talk about smells with BBC Radio 4. Asifa Majid So, if we compare how often people talk about visual things, or auditory things, or tastes or smells, what we find is we talk a lot about what we see and very rarely about what we smell. Young children in the UK are often interested in the sense of smell and they'll remark on it, and the parent will shutitdown. They'll say, "That's disgusting! Put it down." Georgie Asifa's research shows that, here in the UK at least, people talk about visual or auditory things much more than they talk about smells. The adjective visual means related to seeing, and auditory means related to hearing. The adjective for things related to smelling is olfactory. Neil Maybe this is because of how we're raised by our parents. When children start talking about smells, especially unpleasant ones, parents often react by shutting the conversation down. The phrase to shutsomethingdown means to stop it. Georgie Along with other European languages, English doesn't have much vocabulary dedicated to the different qualities of actual smells. There are many ways of talking about smells, especially unpleasant ones, but only a few words which describe actual smells themselves. A good example of a word which does this is musty – a damp, stale smell you might find in an old bookshop. And Neil, that reminds me of your question.