If you need a synonym for stench, there’s always hogo, from French haut-gout, literally “high flavor.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Hogo”
Here’s a word that was a new one on me, HOGO, H-O-G-O.
Do you know this one, Grant?
No. Is that an abbreviation or an acronym?
You would think it would be something very modern, but actually it’s a very old word that means stench or a strong or unpleasant smell.
HOGO. Any connections to anything else?
Well, it’s connected to French and O-GOO or high flavor.
Yeah, I guess that’s a high flavor.
The stench of the sewers is a high flavor indeed.
Yeah, yeah.
The ogoo is originally defined as anything that excites the appetite and is put into sauces, like pepper or lemon or something like that.
The word goes back all the way to the 17th century, talking about a really strong flavor or like really gamey meat.
Hogo. It looks like such a modern term to me, but it’s not.
The reason I thought of sewers is because the word for sewers is ego, E-G-O-U-T.
Oh, really? In French?
Yeah, with an acute accent on the E.
Oh, wow. Okay, well, there you go.
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