# How come my farts smell OK and yours don't? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 3, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996 "2004-09-03T18:41:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/21 "2004-09-04T12:49:05Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Do identical twins dislike the smell of each others’ farts? > [@Loopydude](#): > > In all seriousness, that’s a very interesting question. Any identical twins in here? Yes, to both questions. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/22 "2004-09-04T13:46:25Z")
Wow. Thanks bonzer! Can you elaborate? Is the odor similar yet still offensive, or just totally different, and hence offensive? Disgusting, I know, but science is messy business. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/23 "2004-09-05T12:36:57Z")
The twin brother’s farts just smell pretty much like everybody else’s - except mine, of course. ---
**Author:** ![LuckySevens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@LuckySevens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckySevens)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/24 "2004-09-05T12:47:21Z")
as an avid high protein weight builder, my farts are vile to both me and everyone else. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/25 "2004-09-05T18:49:32Z")
\*Fart proudly! -Benjamin Franklin Farts stink so deaf people can enjoy them, too.\* :leaning on one cheek smiley: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/26 "2004-09-05T19:41:44Z")
> [@MalFrog](#): > > Yep - Farts are like small children - You don’t mind your own, but other people’s are nasty. Like **MalFrog** said. It’s like when you give birth to a kid and you think it’s the cutest little darlin’ in the whole world, but in reality the doctor takes one look at it, and promptly slaps the parents. ---
**Author:** ![JamieC588](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@JamieC588](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JamieC588)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/27 "2004-09-06T18:53:13Z")
An interesting question for sure. I guess I’ll go with the “other peoples farts are foreign” theory floating around out there. However, I must admit, farts are gross no matter whose ass they’re coming out of, be it my own or my boyfriends or whoever. Once my (now ex) boyfriend took me out to dinner. We were driving back home, me in the passenger side, almost asleep. He let several rip, just right in a row. Pow pow pow pow. Then he grinned and hit the button on the drivers side that locks the passenger side window. Bastard. A modified version of the “fart and pull the covers over your S.O.'s head” I suppose. That really isn’t relevant to the question, but a funny story. One of my better memories of him, I might add LOL ---
**Author:** ![Madman2001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@Madman2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madman2001)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/28 "2011-01-26T17:29:03Z")
I have my doubts about the “It doesn’t stink 'cause I know it’s mine” theory. There would be an interesting way of testing that: somehow store up your farts as well as several others’ farts and then, at some later point, randomly test-smell all the selections. I’m sure that each person would be able to pick theirs out. If so, why should that be the case? The answer to that question would help us explain the phenomenon. As another poster said, it’s somehow related to “My BO doesn’t stink like your BO”. An interesting matter, and one that science is as yet unable to tackle. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/29 "2011-01-26T17:42:04Z")
I’m not sure which one is worse - Old fart smell or a zombie thread about fart smell. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/30 "2011-01-26T17:50:43Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > I’m not sure which one is worse - Old fart smell or a zombie thread about fart smell. Meth-a-a-a-n-e-s. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/31 "2011-01-26T18:12:40Z")
Zombie thread! > [@Duckster](#): > > I’m not sure which one is worse - Old fart smell or a zombie thread about fart smell. Is there such a thing as old fart smell? I mean, if you walk into a smoker’s house, even if they aren’t smoking, and you can tell a smoker lives there. Unless you walk into a farter’s house and catch them in the very recent act, there usually isn’t a “farter lives here” smell. Is there? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/32 "2011-01-26T18:15:38Z")
I was wondering about this with respect to **QtM** ’s recent thread on [donor stool](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=592536). After they put the essence of someone else’s feces in your colon, which of you is more partial to the ensuing flatus? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/33 "2011-01-26T20:00:19Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Is there such a thing as old fart smell? Hello, Dopers. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped eating ladies’ flavored white rice switched to Old Cabbage and Beer, he could smell like he’s me… ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/34 "2011-01-26T20:26:25Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Is there such a thing as old fart smell? > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Hello, Dopers. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped eating ladies’ flavored white rice switched to Old Cabbage and Beer, he could smell like he’s me… well done. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/35 "2011-01-26T22:25:58Z")
Loud fats or SBDs? The former always seem less stinky, maybe because the very trumpet has blown all the stinky parts away. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/36 "2011-01-26T22:42:19Z")
I don’t know that the premise holds. While I am not so disgusted by my own farts that I won’t fart if I need to, I would not say that I am in any way used to or okay with the smell. bluch, ew, yuck. I go out of my way to refrain from exposing others to my intestinal gas. I am always able to hold them in until I am either outdoors, or in a private bathroom. My yuck-response to the farts of others is more disdain that they are not willing to take it somewhere private, not because their farts smell worse than mine. My own fart odors are pretty variable actually, depending on what I ate recently (or drank, in the way of liquor). Exceptions are allowed for illness of course, or situations where one cannot get outdoors for some reason, but my point is that I am not any more accepting of my own fartsmells than others’ fartsmells. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/37 "2011-01-27T11:18:51Z")
I have 2 theories about this: 1. The mechanics of smelling something is equal for everyone. However, how we interpret smells is purely psychological. For example, the smell of garlic evokes different reactions whether the person likes it, dislikes it, or has to cook it for a living. Smells do not provoke an involuntary reaction. If so, we couldn’t have garbage men, sewage treatment workers, or coroners. Imagine how many baby diapers would go unchanged as their parents retched uncontrollably in the corner. 2. Disliking the smell of farts is a purely social mechanism. If you smell a fart, you are expected to react a certain way. If it is your fart, you aren’t. Imagine smokers. 30-40 years ago, the smell of smoke was commonplace and even non-smokers could endure it. Today, a person who smokes in the wrong place will evoke a strong negative reaction. Did the smell change? No. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/38 "2011-01-27T12:01:13Z")
I just assumed it was just habituation. Just like you won’t smell something if you are around it long enough, things you’ve smelled often don’t smell as bad as things you don’t smell as often. And things you’ve smelled since being a child tend to seem innocuous at worst. One thing I find interesting is that I can’t tell the difference between anyone else’s farts, but I do know my own: slight TMI spoiler: I’ve inadvertently tested it when really sick, and farted without knowing it. Once I smelled it, I knew it was mine. As for smoking: I’ve known several people from other countries who say that American smoke smells worse than the kind in their own hometown. That fits the habituation hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/39 "2011-01-27T21:37:16Z")
What I find humorous is that little sniff people make when they are in a group and one of them lets loose a loud fart. Listen carefully and you will hear the slightest unconscious inhale immediately after the blast and right before the comments. For some unknown reason the fart must be sampled, tested for potency. Or maybe a primitive instinct buried deep cues you to smell, “yep, that’s Bob!” I love a good fart.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996/40 "2011-01-27T21:59:56Z")
Intestinal gases are absorbed into the blood and excreted partly in the breath. I suspect a major contributor to the phenomenon that one’s own flatus is less noxious is partly related to olfactory fatigue. There are certainly psychological factors as well. Consider how much more repugnant another’s saliva or mucus is than your own, and consider that even your own becomes increasingly repugnant the longer it is outside your body (and thus the more distant it becomes from being your own). Thus we can snort in and swallow, but if we were to snort into a glass and then see our mucus and saliva there, we might not be able to ingest it without gagging. Having said all this, I might mention a relative who can smoke even himself out. But he is an outlier, I suppose… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-my-farts-smell-ok-and-yours-dont/262996.md?page=3)