# Am I the only person who doesn't think skunks stink? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 22, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324 "2008-12-22T16:50:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/21 "2008-12-22T22:09:10Z")
**Kim the Rhymer** likes the smell. Of course, she has dubious taste (look at her husband! what a GEEK!) but as the novelist Alice Sebold either likes the smell or can imagine someone who does (the narrator of \*The Lovely Bones \*mentions that it smells like skunk in her heaven, and that is presented as a good thing), I am forced to concede that an affinity for the smell of skunk is rare but not inconceivable. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/22 "2008-12-22T22:15:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > A car once hit a skunk right outside my house early Sunday morning. > > When I walked outside, I gagged. When I got to the sidewalk, I keeled over and puked. IIRC, the oil in the skunk spray contains thiols that will make you puke. It’s the same stuff that makes dead bodies smell bad. While I was looking up the name of the oils, I came across “olfactory fatigue”, that is what made the smell not-so-noticeable to my girlfriend. Actually me too. I knew the dog was sprayed, but up close, it was just a vague burnt garlic. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/23 "2008-12-22T22:39:19Z")
> [@](#): > > originally posted by > > > [@](#): > > > > even sven: > > I had a skunk living under my house for about a year. Any time I smell skunk I’m instantly transported to that time in my life. A similar phenomenon applies in my case. When I smell a hint of skunk in the air, it reminds me of summertime in the country and my youth. So a small dose definitely smells okay to me. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/24 "2008-12-23T00:45:35Z")
Having been on the receiving end of a skunks business, I assure you that your opinion would change up close and personal. \*I was 10 or 12, playing in the woods out back, and tripped over the little fellow. He, ahem, disapproved of this. My parents then disapproved of me entering the house, and I got to camp in the backyard for 2 days. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/25 "2008-12-23T01:11:32Z")
It smells a lot like puppy breath to me. It is strong but I never thought that it was that terrible and I have had to clean a large, long-haired dog that got sprayed by one. If it wasn’t so hard to get rid of, I wouldn’t think that much of it. Burnt black powder also has a similar smell and who doesn’t love the smell of battle hanging in the air after it is all over? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/26 "2008-12-23T04:10:46Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Did it spray often? How long did the stink linger after it sprayed? Not sure. It just kind of smelled like skunk all the time. You get used to it eventually so we stopped really noticing. There were so many other things wrong with that house that the skunk smell wasn’t even up there on our list of problems. ---
**Author:** ![MsJinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@MsJinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsJinx)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/27 "2008-12-23T04:26:33Z")
[quote=“Rosie\_is\_Tired, post:5, topic:478324”] Ohh! My boyfriend, for one, cannot smell skunk. He may lack a gene that allows him to smell it. Like urine smells after you eat asparagus. Some people say it doesn’t smell any different, but it does. They just lack that one little gene. I read that somewhere, not sure where. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/28 "2008-12-23T04:44:44Z")
I second the comparison to burnt tires- but with a much more eye-watering, nose-searing factor. When I was a camp counselor, we had a skunk that would pillage our kitchen nightly. We lured him into a Rubbermaid trash can using a trail of frosted flakes, then slammed the lid on and deposited him far out in the woods. That was the end of that trashcan, forever. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/29 "2008-12-23T05:15:26Z")
> [@Karyn](#): > > I like it from a distance and in small doses. It smells like good bud. Well, there is reason why skunk weed has that moniker. That said, I also have had the privilege of walking a dog who was directly sprayed by one of those little critters en route and that **in no way** reminded me of bud, good or bad. The smell–calling it a smell does not do it justice, it is more like a presence–was overbearing. It filled my nose, my eyes, my mouth. I swear it was penetrating my skin through osmosis and I was nowhere near the skunk, only the sprayed dog. It definitely was closer to tear gas than any mere odor. There is a world of difference between the smell of dead skunk on the road and being up close and personal with the business end of one of those little terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/30 "2008-12-23T05:47:18Z")
My beagle got skunked right in the face. He rolled over and over trying to get it off. I bathed him countless time and used all the nifty internet cures. They helped a bit but some hung on for weeks. It was not a pleasant smell. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/31 "2008-12-23T10:03:22Z")
I doubt I’d like it if I got sprayed, but just smelling it from a distance is kind of pleasant. But then, I like the smell of my own farts and armpits 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/32 "2008-12-23T13:24:23Z")
I had a grandma through a second marriage that couldn’t smell anything. She didn’t think skunks or her house stunk. She had a monkey before grandpa married her and the house always smelled like a monkey cage at the zoo even without the monkey that urinated all over when she had it. Everybody striped when we got home and showered to get the smell off us. There are people that can’t smell anything, so they don’t hate skunks. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/33 "2008-12-23T13:27:51Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > … Maybe it’s because they’re so poor at avoiding cars. I think the problem is that they don’t feel they should need to avoid anything. Most every moving thing (except possibly a Great Horned Owl) has given skunks a wide berth for so long that they now accept it as their due, and haven’t grasped the fact that cars have no sense of smell. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2008, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324/34 "2008-12-23T14:17:53Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > _Fortunately?!_ I suppose in that it didn’t hit _you_. That must have been one unhappy doggie, though, and one unhappy **Mercotan** that had to clean the dog up. The dog went after the skunk. The dog suffered the most direct consequences. That’s fortunate, in my book. The dog was beloved, but dumb. She got hit by skunks 5 or 6 times before she learned better/got too arthritic to keep chasing them. We kept a supply of skunk-off around after the 2nd hit. On the third hit, dog got a glancing blow, the Mrs. got a more direct hit. **That** was unfortunate, no doubt about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-the-only-person-who-doesnt-think-skunks-stink/478324.md?page=1)