Smell vs. Odor

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Todd Shippey calling from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Hey, Todd.

Welcome to the show. What’s up?

Well, I have two complaints.

I was a firefighter, paramedic for a long time, first in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and then here in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, right at the foot of Lake Winnebago.

And actually, Fond du Lac is a French word that stands for bottom of the lake.

And it’s interesting that these words followed me from Michigan back to Wisconsin.

So my first one is smell.

When we get dispatched to a gas leak, they’ll say, respond to such and such an address for a smell of gas.

And it’s not a smell of gas.

It’s an odor of gas.

When I get there, I’m going to try to detect the odor by smelling.

Have you run into that before?

So you’re arguing that the smell shouldn’t be a noun?

No, it should be a verb, right?

You smell an odor.

You don’t smell a smell.

It’s both. It’s been a noun and a verb for 900 years.

You’re saying that I’m wrong on that one. Okay.

You sound like a great guy.

Because that’s been a constant argument. I’m saying it’s not a smell. It’s an odor.

You sound like a great guy, and as a fireman, I salute you.

But yes, you’re wrong on this particular thing.

Okay. Now, I know I’m not wrong on my next one.

My second one is oriented.

Orientation.

When a patient is alert and oriented, not orientated, people call into the hospital and we say we have a patient that is alert and orientated times three.

And I think that you orientate somebody, they go through an orientation.

When they’re done, they are then oriented.

Okay.

We can break this down real quickly.

Typically, orient is the better choice for all of the sentences that you have there, at least in the United States.

Orientate tends to be more British, but they have identical meanings, similar histories.

But there’s a little bit of stigma against orientate because it sounds so unusual to the American ear.

So you go through an orientation period, and when you’re done, you still are orientated, not oriented?

Either one, whichever you prefer.

It’s a style choice, so maybe you need a style guide in your—it sounds like you need a style guide in your firehouse.

So you have a firefighter that was wrong on both accounts for my main gripe from Michigan all the way to Wisconsin.

I will tell you something, Todd.

I have never been called out to help people with a gas leak, so props to you.

True.

I hope you never have to.

So you have your area of expertise, and we have ours, and let’s just both be great at it, all right?

Oh, it sounds good.

Thank you very much.

All right. Take care.

Have a great day. Bye.

All right. Bye-bye.

A plus to Todd, right, going out to the gas leaks and thinking about language on the way.

I know, right?

I wonder if you should have asked, is there a dictionary in the trucks?

Yeah.

Kind of like there’s a Bible in every hotel room.

Maybe every fire truck should have a dictionary.

Yeah.

Yeah, I wanted to ask him about involved.

Do you know how they always say that the house is involved?

Yeah.

What does that mean in fire?

Completely on fire, I think.

Oh, completely on fire, right.

So it’s just not nearby.

It’s actually subject to flame.

Yeah, I think it means being completely consumed by flames.

I remember hearing that when I was a cub reporter, hearing the dispatches.

Everyone has a work conversation that goes pretty much like Todd’s, and this is the kind of thing that we love to talk about on this show.

Call A Way with Words, 877-929-9673.