What’s the word for the smell of rain? It’s petrichor. For years, scientists referred to this evidence of rain as argillaceous odor because it was particularly noticeable near soil with a lot of whitish clay called argil. Then, in the early 1960s...
Todd, a firefighter in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, wonders about the difference between the words smell and odor. Also, which verb is the better choice: orient or orientate? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Smell vs. Odor” Hello, you...
Post-9/11, we’ve heard a lot of new jargon pertaining to travel and security. An example is vaporwake, that term for the airborne trail we leave of our natural scent, perfumes, and the odor of any drugs or weapons we may be carrying. Another example...
odonater n.— «Andy Paulios, Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources, and Bill Smith, conservation biologist in the DNR’s Bureau of Endangered Resources, provided basic information on the Order...
odor n.— «Andy Paulios, Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources, and Bill Smith, conservation biologist in the DNR’s Bureau of Endangered Resources, provided basic information on the Order Odonata...
ladybug taint n.— «There’s even a name for it—“ladybug taint.” The smell, which connotes green bell peppers or roasted peanuts, is produced by ladybugs as a defense mechanism. The chemicals they release, in a class of compounds called...