Tuesday

Schnoz Sense



schnoz

SHnäz/
noun
informal
  1. 1.a person's nose.




When I was a teenager, one of my brothers would often complain about the myriad of scents wafting from my room down to the hall way. Some examples of these potent smells: hairspray, finger nail polish, finger nail polish remover, perfume, burning candles, and incense. 

I remember telling him once after he protested my application of finger nail polish that he needed to get used to it because someday he would get married and, no doubt,  his wife would be painting her nails.

Funny thing, he did marry an amazing woman but I've never seen her nails painted. Maybe it was on his dating checklist?

My brother has a great sense of smell. He could smell things that none of us could and would wow us with his ability to track a scent. I think all of my brothers have advanced abilities in this arena, actually. I determined that there must be some people with extra sensitive sniffers. And guess what? I married one!




We call it his super schnoz, and Mr. H has a high ranking schnoz. He can tell me a smell as soon as we walk in a crowded room. I am often asked by him: "do you smell that?" I think the only time I have been able to detect in the same level that he regularly does is when I am pregnant...then my nostrils go into overdrive. Not pretty.

I have recently realized that an overachieving olfactory is genetic. My 5 year old, clearly, takes after his father's easily alarmed aroma sensor. He regularly asks me to spray out his room (febreeze) to make it smell better. One evening he asked if he could keep the empty pizza box in his room to be able to smell the pleasurable pizza smell all night long. (Denied) He has created his own fix: the "smeller beller " to describe any useful device (usually fabric or a stuffed animal) to block out bad smells, such as his little sister's stinky diapers.





On Sunday, Mr. H made crockpot chili to simmer while we were at Church. The strong whiffs of cumin, paprika, and peppers permeated our kitchen and upstairs spaces. J could hardly stand it. He kept asking "what is that awful smell" and "when will it stop smelling like that!" Thankfully, he forgot all about it when we got home and the house smelled delicious.

Our sense of smell (and the degrees of strength that vary from person to person) is fascinating, isn't it?


J & his Wawee--who I'm pretty sure also has super schnoz skills


Not only that--think about the smells that immediately take you back to a time, place, or person in your life. Like the smell of bacon and coffee (my maternal grandmother's house in the morning), the smell of diesel exhaust + rain (my missionary days in Portugal), or the smell of hot glue (my mother's 'hobby room').




Do you know someone who sports a super schnoz?
Are there places in time that are memorialized by your sniffer?





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2 comments:

Emily Johnson said...

Yes, it is amazing how dramatically a smell can transport you to another time and place instantly...whether you wanted to get on that ride or not.
And I love coming home after church to a yummy crockpot dinner smelling home. I'm sure your chili was delicious.

Linda said...

There is a certain smell to fall I think. But I don't know what it is.
There is also a fall smell I don't likee..burning leaves. It makes me frustrated people will mess up MY AIR!