# Can't see: blind; can't hear: deaf; can't smell: ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 4, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447 "2005-05-04T21:50:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/1 "2005-05-04T21:50:56Z")
Dearies,
So, I could probably leave the question as is in the post, but why not write it with a little less punctuation? When you can’t hear, you’re deaf. When you can’t see, you’re blind. When you can’t talk, you’re a mute. So what about when you can’t smell? Or, now that we’re on the subject, what about taste?
Birdmonster
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### Author:  [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/2 "2005-05-04T21:54:58Z")
No less a personage than [Cecil Adams](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_149.html) has answered your question. The words are _anosmic_ and _ageusiatic_, respectively.
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### Author:  [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/3 "2005-05-04T21:59:34Z")
OK, so what if you have no sense of touch? Or does everybody have that one?
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/4 "2005-05-05T00:17:46Z")
Anesthesia: Total or partial loss of sensation, especially tactile sensibility
from: [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=anesthesia](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=anesthesia)
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/5 "2005-05-05T00:19:03Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#):
>
> Anesthesia: Total or partial loss of sensation, especially tactile sensibility
>
> from: [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=anesthesia](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=anesthesia)
Sorry, that was for **tim314**
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/6 "2005-05-05T00:23:23Z")
So someone with no sense of touch would be…anesthetic?
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### Author:  [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/7 "2005-05-05T00:26:05Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#):
>
> So someone with no sense of touch would be…anesthetic?
And I guess that someone with no sense of beauty is anaesthetic?
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/8 "2005-05-05T00:37:08Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#):
>
> So someone with no sense of touch would be…anesthetic?
Yup. Sense of touch = Tactile sensibility.
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### Author:  [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/9 "2005-05-05T00:53:49Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#):
>
> Anesthesia: Total or partial loss of sensation, especially tactile sensibility
>
> from: [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=anesthesia](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=anesthesia)
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/10 "2005-05-05T14:40:19Z")
Bile chemicals! Doubly appetizing! Thanks Rumba.
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### Author:  [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/11 "2005-05-05T14:43:50Z")
> [@MikeS](#):
>
> No less a personage than [Cecil Adams](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_149.html) has answered your question. The words are _anosmic_ and _ageusiatic_, respectively.
Well, those are the more scholarly terms. The common term for no smell is “exstinked”.
Hey, what? Ow! Stop throwing things!
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### Author:  [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/12 "2005-05-05T15:45:35Z")
Actually, there was more punctuation in the OP than in the title.
::deflects the throwing from \*\*Shibb \*\* to herself::
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/13 "2005-05-05T17:11:05Z")
Does a person who can’t smell need a “smelling-nose dog”?
I could actually see this being useful, in some situations.
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### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/14 "2005-05-05T17:15:53Z")
I don’t think the dog’s goin’ anywhere _near_ your fridge, Cal.
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/15 "2005-05-05T18:31:31Z")
A “smelling-nose dog” might be OK, but I’m pretty sure there are all kinds of laws against having a proxy to touch things for you.
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/16 "2005-05-06T17:14:52Z")
What is the name of the condition where the patient is incapable of feeling pain? Mommahomie read an article about just such a little boy; he felt no pain. He would walk into walls and not cry; at one point her burned himself on something and didn’t cry; etc. His doctors were rather alarmed at this, as his lack of pain-feeling ability could lead to serious injury.
Anyway, do we just say he’s anesthetic?
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### Author:  [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/17 "2005-05-06T19:36:56Z")
Do we have terms for any more of these? No sense of humor? No sense of fashion? No sense of respecting other people’s personal space?
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### Author:  [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-see-blind-cant-hear-deaf-cant-smell/302447/18 "2005-05-06T20:32:22Z")
Anhedonic – cannot feel pleasure