# Complaint about Smelly Foods **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 30, 2001, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218 "2001-07-30T13:20:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/1 "2001-07-30T13:20:54Z")
Please don’t eat smelly foods at your desk at work. There’s a lunchroom, ya know. Your daily egg sandwich literally makes me nauseous every time I walk by. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/2 "2001-07-30T13:41:36Z")
Mmmm… egg sandwich… How does it make you nauseous, by the way? Does it bring out boils on your face maybe? Cause you to smell? I mean, I could understand if it made you _nauseated_, but I’m unsure as to the mechanics of it making you personally unpleasant. pan ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/3 "2001-07-30T13:49:09Z")
I don’t have a fucking ounce of sympathy, man. I’ll trade you your egg-eating coworker for mine which eats kimchee with nearly every lunch. On the plus side, few of us have sinus congestion after noontime… ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/4 "2001-07-30T14:02:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kabbes \* > \*\* > How does it make you nauseous, by the way? Does it bring out boils on your face maybe? Cause you to smell? I mean, I could understand if it made you _nauseated_, but I’m unsure as to the mechanics of it making you personally unpleasant. > > pan \*\* > [@](#): > > nau•seous > > Pronunciation: (nô’shus, -zE-us), [key] > —adj. > > 1. affected with nausea; nauseated Nice angle there, correcting somebody’s English in a snotty way, when you yourself have it wrong. I give it 8.0 on the troll-o-meter. |-------x–| 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/5 "2001-07-30T14:44:08Z")
I was aware when I made my post that recent years have seen the unwelcome enlargement of the definition of nauseous. However I feel it encumbent upon me in my role of curmudgeon to fight this dilution of meaning wherever I can. So there. Anyway, your OP hardly set the world on fire with subtle argument. What else was I supposed to take issue with? The fact that you have a lunchroom? No no - put more effort into your rant and I’ll put more into my response. pan ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/6 "2001-07-30T14:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lucwarm \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by kabbes \* > > \*\* > > How does it make you nauseous, by the way? Does it bring out boils on your face maybe? Cause you to smell? I mean, I could understand if it made you _nauseated_, but I’m unsure as to the mechanics of it making you personally unpleasant. > > > > pan \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > nau•seous > > > > Pronunciation: (nô’shus, -zE-us), [key] > > —adj. > > > > 1. affected with nausea; nauseated > > Nice angle there, correcting somebody’s English in a snotty way, when you yourself have it wrong. > > I give it 8.0 on the troll-o-meter. > > |-------x–| > > 😉 \*\* Nauseous used to mean “causing nausea”, which was to be contrasted with nauseated, meaning “under the influence of nausea”. While the distinction has been blurred in popular American usage (but that’s a whole 'nother pit thread), it may still exist in British English ( **Kabbes** is British, IIRC). If you’re going to correct people’s English, do make sure you know what type of English they’re speaking. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/7 "2001-07-30T15:04:17Z")
Thanks **ultrafilter**. You are absolutely correct of course and I thank you for standing up for me, but I wouldn’t want people to be fighting my cause when I’m not in the right. On this occassion: 1. If what you say is true, then I’m guilty of the offense you possibly accuse **lucwarm** of - namely correcting English that is correct in _his_ locale. 2. Depressingly, the use of “naseous” to mean “nauseated” is increasingly common in England too. I mourn this because it blurs the meaning of the word naseous. Now if I feel irritable, mischievious and naughty, or if I feel ugly after a night on the town, I can’t say “I feel nauseous” because it will be interpreted as “I feel nauseated”. But we already had the perfectly good word ‘nauseated’ to mean nauseated. Language changes. I have to lump it but I don’t have to like it. And just sometimes I try to fight back. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/8 "2001-07-30T15:18:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kabbes \* > \*\*Thanks **ultrafilter**. You are absolutely correct of course and I thank you for standing up for me, but I wouldn’t want people to be fighting my cause when I’m not in the right. On this occassion: > > 1. If what you say is true, then I’m guilty of the offense you possibly accuse **lucwarm** of - namely correcting English that is correct in _his_ locale. > \*\* Quite true. But I’m more sympathetic to those who stick up for precision in language. \*\* > [@](#): > > 1. Depressingly, the use of “naseous” to mean “nauseated” is increasingly common in England too. > > I mourn this because it blurs the meaning of the word naseous. Now if I feel irritable, mischievious and naughty, or if I feel ugly after a night on the town, I can’t say “I feel nauseous” because it will be interpreted as “I feel nauseated”. But we already had the perfectly good word ‘nauseated’ to mean nauseated.\*\* Say it ain’t so! Well, there goes my naive faith in the British as staunch guardians of the purity of the English language. 😉 \*\* > [@](#): > > Language changes. I have to lump it but I don’t have to like it. And just sometimes I try to fight back. \*\* Yup. And to the OP: don’t you have the option of walking a different way, or just holding your breath as you walk by this person? ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/9 "2001-07-30T15:39:13Z")
Back to the OP: Two words: **Microwaved Fish** It’s not just a localized problem, the smell gets into the ventilation system and permeates everywhere. Ewwwww… ---
**Author:** ![katiekilldare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/838e76/32.png) [@katiekilldare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katiekilldare)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/10 "2001-07-30T15:57:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ultrafilter \* > \*\*And to the OP: don’t you have the option of walking a different way, or just holding your breath as you walk by this person? \*\* Often someone’s workspace is just one tiny cubicle in a huge sea of them, all in one large room. And it’s hard to get away from the odor of Ms. Right-to-my-Left’s gyro or Mr. Behind-Me’s surprisingly offensive-smelling taco salad. I feel for you, **lucwarm**. I know that I would often skip lunch in the cafeteria (in order to sit and read the SDMB at my desk while quietly eating my non-smelly proper salad sans eggs) but I was always sure to keep aware of any potential lunch smell issues on behalf of my close co-workers. So, does the egg sandwich smell linger? Or is it just a matter of putting up with it while it’s out in the open? [sub]And with such a short rant, I think this thread could have used a REALLY hateful title.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/11 "2001-07-30T16:00:10Z")
Well, in my locale, the distinction is perfectly clear. We use the words “nauseating” and “nauseous.” e.g. “That amusement park ride is quite nauseating.” Please feel free to convince me that something is lost from the English language by using these words in this way. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/12 "2001-07-30T16:20:24Z")
So if I feel that somebody is gross, I must now say that he is nauseating? We have to drag yet another word into it? What was wrong with saying that he is nauseous and that I am nauseated from having to deal with him? Did we really need to create confusion by misusing the words? What is _wrong_ with it, my dear fellow, is that I cannot use or hear the word nauseous in many settings without needing clarification as to what version was intended. If people had just stuck to the definitions in the first place, such a mess would never have arisen. Anyway, I have a gut feel that “nauseous” and “nauseating” are subtly different. But I’ll have to think on that one for a while. pan ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/13 "2001-07-30T16:43:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ultrafilter \* > \*\* > And to the OP: don’t you have the option of walking a different way, or just holding your breath as you walk by this person? \*\* Let me explain something: I posted to whine. Some people are oppressed by governments on a daily basis. Some people are cursed with ill-health. Others pine away to meet that special man/woman with whom they will fall in love, marry, and raise a family. Personally, I’m a citizen of one of the wealthiest, most free nations the world has ever seen. I’m in great health. I’ve never known a day of hunger in my life. I am married with two beautiful children. So I complain about a smelly sandwich. Sue me. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/14 "2001-07-30T17:13:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lucwarm \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by ultrafilter \* > > \*\* > > And to the OP: don’t you have the option of walking a different way, or just holding your breath as you walk by this person? \*\* > > Let me explain something: I posted to whine. > > Some people are oppressed by governments on a daily basis. > Some people are cursed with ill-health. > Others pine away to meet that special man/woman with whom they will fall in love, marry, and raise a family. > > Personally, I’m a citizen of one of the wealthiest, most free nations the world has ever seen. I’m in great health. I’ve never known a day of hunger in my life. I am married with two beautiful children. > > So I complain about a smelly sandwich. Sue me. > > \*\* You have every right to complain about a smelly sandwich, and I can certainly sympathize with you, although the offending quality in my office is noise. If that’s the worst complaint you have, then more power to you. But if it bothers you that much, it seems logical that you would attempt to avoid it. This is all I meant to say. > [@](#): > > \*\*\*Originally posted by lucwarm \* > Well, in my locale, the distinction is perfectly clear. > > We use the words “nauseating” and “nauseous.” > > e.g. “That amusement park ride is quite nauseating.” > > Please feel free to convince me that something is lost from the English language by using these words in this way. \*\* What is lost is precision. It’s just my style, but I prefer to pack as much meaning/information into as few words as I can. Having words with precise meanings helps here. And as for “nauseating”…well, why introduce a third word when two will do just as well? This could serve as an argument for getting rid of nauseous, but since it’s been around for a while, why uproot it? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/15 "2001-07-30T17:32:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lucwarm \* > \*\*Let me explain something: I posted to whine. > \*\* Cool. > [@](#): > > \*\* > So I complain about a smelly sandwich. Sue me.\*\* How much ya worth? Is it a good idea? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![magdalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@magdalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magdalene)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/16 "2001-07-30T17:35:46Z")
lucwarm, there’s someone I want you to meet. Her name is Milena, she combs her hair with a garden rake, and every day for lunch she microwaves some Romanian recipe made of pig organs and cabbage, wafting the smell through the office as she makes her way to her desk. In the late afternoons she burns microwave popcorn, for fun. You’ll PINE for the days when the worst you had to smell was slimey sulphurous egg salad that has been inside a warm lunch bag all day. **kabbes** , this is for you: Egg salad has a foul, disgusting odor. Its noxious scent causes my gorge to rise in my throat. One whiff, and I must fight the urge to vomit. I daresay many an egg salad sandwich has passed its way involuntarily into the mouth of the great Porcelain Goddess. I must flee its noisome aura. Please my friend, hold my hair as the waves of nausea shake me and I kneel on the clammy tile awaiting the dreaded reversal of peristalsis, the agony of retching, the burning of stomach acids in the back of my throat. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/17 "2001-07-30T17:40:10Z")
Only a Doper of magdalene’s caliber could turn ralphing into such an act of lyrical poetry. It makes me wanna whip up some eggsalad just to see you in action, my dear… ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/18 "2001-07-30T17:47:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kabbes \* > \*\*What was wrong with saying that he is nauseous and that I am nauseated from having to deal with him? \*\* Nothing at all. My point is that the usage in my locale seems to be at least as precise. But feel free to convince me otherwise. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kabbes \* > **I have a gut feel that “nauseous” and “nauseating” are subtly different** So to speak. 😉 > [@](#): > > \*\*What is lost is precision. It’s just my style, but I prefer to pack as much meaning/information into as few words as I can. Having words with precise meanings helps here. \*\* Honestly, I don’t see how using nauseating/nauseous is any less precise than using nauseous/nauseated. But please feel free to convince me otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/19 "2001-07-30T17:52:39Z")
I haven’t even been able to look at, much less stand the smell of, an egg salad sandwich since the first grade, when the kid at the desk next to mine hurled his egg salad lunch all over my workbook. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it pretty much looks/smells the same after it is eaten as it does before. Urp. ---
**Author:** ![magdalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@magdalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magdalene)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218/20 "2001-07-30T18:09:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan \* > \*\*Only a Doper of magdalene’s caliber could turn ralphing into such an act of lyrical poetry. > > It makes me wanna whip up some eggsalad just to see you in action, my dear… \*\* Oh Egg Salad Sandwich how you torture me torture me I cannot take you out from my Snoopy lunchbox without getting a bathroom pass just in case We all know what happened last time janitor made me clean it up and detention 'cause no hall pass I cannot trade you away The other kids will laugh at me The cafeteria ladies mock me behind their hairnets Now my orange and Cheez-its smell like you 1/2 rotten eggs 1/2 when Jason cuts the cheese in church Sometimes I hate my mom [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/complaint-about-smelly-foods/74218.md?page=2)