# Cologne vs. Eau de Cologne

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cologne-vs-eau-de-cologne/85930>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 7, 2001, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cologne-vs-eau-de-cologne/85930 "2001-10-07T15:36:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cologne-vs-eau-de-cologne/85930/1 "2001-10-07T15:36:14Z")

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I bought some tuscany eau de cologne recently, and it didn’t smell as strong as it had in previous years. Some 10 years ago, i seem to remember that i had bought cologne, not this eau de crap. However, all of the reading that i have done lately, put out mostly by scent manufacturers, says quite boldly that EDC is superior to cologne. Now, is this a case of the emperorers new eau de cologne? I don;t see how water of anything can be more potent that the undiluted substance. Am i getting shafted?

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**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cologne-vs-eau-de-cologne/85930/2 "2001-10-07T17:27:28Z")

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I always understood Eau to be a watered-down version. Maybe it’s superior because you don’t stink like a $2 whore when you use it, as opposed to regular perfume or cologne.

–Cliffy

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**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cologne-vs-eau-de-cologne/85930/3 "2001-10-07T20:33:45Z")

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My understanding has always been that the terms mean the same thing.

Can you point us to some of the literature that says EDC is superior to C, if any are online, **handsome**?

After a little looking around, I came across [this site](http://www.jolique.com/perfume/origin_eau_cologne.htm) which says:

> [@](#):
>
> …sometimes a less potent form of fragrance, such as eau de parfum or an eau de cologne, is more pleasing. But what is eau de cologne, anyway? Today, eau de cologne (or simply, cologne) means nothing more than a fragrance whose essential oil concentration is approximately 5% (as opposed to perfume, which has the highest concentration, typically ranging from 20% to 25%.