# Smells that trigger memories
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 6, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402 "2011-04-06T15:49:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/1 "2011-04-06T15:49:17Z")
I woke up this morning to the clean, ozone smell that comes right after a rain.
It made me seriously homesick for the Northwest. I’ve lived in Denver off and on for the past 10 years, and that smell takes me right back to the Skagit Valley in springtime.
It started me thinking about other smells that are associated with a time or place.
Roasted Chestnuts send me right back to Tokyo in the wintertime.
Diesel smoke reminds me of Seoul.
Miso sends me back to Misawa Japan, when I was about eleven, and my friend Brown Allen’s mom would make it for us after school.
Puppies paws instantly take me back to being about six and getting to pick out my very own pet for the first time at the shelter. (Freckles!).
Grape Bubble gum triggers memories of elementary school, and running around on the playground.
Tomato sauce, if made right, takes me to a small bar in Sicily, where I had the most amazing meal of my life.
Any smells transport you to a different time and place?
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/2 "2011-04-06T16:11:11Z")
There have been no telling how many threads devoted to the smell-memory connections we have all experienced. I could list dozens of mine that cause specific time and place flashbacks.
I’d be really curious if there are universal smell-to-type-of-memory connections. Or at least a relatively narrow range of such things.
Like, what would be the first thing that these smells would cause you to see or hear (or sense in some other way):
- bacon
- popcorn
- White Shoulders
- gasoline
- burning rubber
- Zest soap
- donuts
- just-mowed grass
(add to the list, or provide your own response(s) to the ones I named)
Links to older threads might help in the discussion, too.
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### Author:  [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/3 "2011-04-06T16:20:37Z")
I looked for some previous threads, but couldn’t find any.
The White Shoulders comment reminded me about the perfume [Charlie](http://www0.epinions.com/review/pr-Charlie_by_Revlon/content_75774398084).
My mom wore this throughout the 70s, and I saw some at a walgreens the other day. One sniff, and I was five, watching my folks get ready to go out, and wondering what torture I was going to inflict on the baby sitter.
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### Author:  [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/4 "2011-04-06T16:32:47Z")
I really like Zeldar’s idea! Here’s the list with my personal memories:
- bacon: Camping. Mom always fixed a big breakfast on that little Coleman stove, and there is nothing in the world like awakening to the smell of bacon and coffee (Even tho I didn’t drink coffee at that age…)
- popcorn: Going to the theatre as a kid.
- White Shoulders: Honestly no memory at all.
- gasoline: Hot summer day, sitting in the back seat while the car was getting a fill up.
- burning rubber:Working in a factory. Bleh.
- Zest soap: My dad, freshly scrubbed an getting ready to head off to work.
- donuts: My parents played bingo a lot, an one of the bingos they went to was right down the street from a tiny little donut shop. It was their habit to stop there on the way home and get a dozen to bring home. I can remember being about 4 or 5 and being allowed to choose MY donut!
- just-mowed grass: Hot summer days pushing the mower back and forth in our big yard, being followed by my 2 Collies, Lassie and Prince. I had rigged up a little harness for Prince and trained him to pull a wagon around when I did yard clean up- sticks, rocks, dog poop, etc.
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/5 "2011-04-06T16:36:53Z")
Here’s the[thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=277116) I did on it years ago.
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### Author:  [@DivineComedienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DivineComedienne)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/6 "2011-04-06T16:54:11Z")
Halston perfume always takes me back to freshman year of college, 1980; my boyfriend had given me a bottle for Christmas, and it makes me think of him fondly if I catch a whiff of it on someone passing by.
I can’t stomach coconut-scented soaps, as it brings me back to the time of my C-section recovery - it just happened to be the scent that was in the shower at the time, and it was such a traumatic time for me (for many reasons), it makes me ill to smell it now. Yet, strangely, I can still drink pina coladas 🙂
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/7 "2011-04-06T16:54:59Z")
These are some threads I started, and I know I posted in others along the way.
> **[Nostalgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=358796)**
>
> This may develop to fit better in CS, may even be IMHO, it certainly ought not be a GD, GQ, or Pit, and I doubt if ATMB needs to hear about, and even if Cecil has an opinion, it’s not that big a deal, so it’s here because it’s about all that’s left...
Nostalgia
02-14-2006, 09:38 AM
> **[Fragrances/aromas/smells: Yea or Nay?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=383460)**
>
> Patchouli Popcorn Jasmine Bacon Magnolia New car White Shoulders Cinnamon Rolls Sandalwood New electronics New jeans Coffee Just mowed grass Christmas tree Campfire Old Spice Charcoal grilled burgers The ocean A bakery or a bread...
Fragrances/aromas/smells: Yea or Nay?
08-10-2006, 09:12 AM
> **[Smells, Aromas and Odors You Miss](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=554477)**
>
> That reddish sweeping compound they used on the floors in school when I was in grammar school New blue jeans the first day of school Too much chlorine in the city pool Burning leaves in the fall Cotton candy Hair tonic Mentholatum
Smells, Aromas and Odors You Miss
03-03-2010, 02:09 PM
It’s been a curiosity of mine most of my life and I keep wondering when they’re ever going to develop a device for recording smells. Smell-o-vision obviously was too funky to catch on, but there just has to be a way to reproduce smells so you could dial them up on demand.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/8 "2011-04-06T17:06:48Z")
bacon - Sunday mornings
popcorn - Movie theatres
gasoline - Boats
Mustiness - Great grandma’s house
A certain unpleasant perfume - my next door neighbor when I was growing up
Bread baking - Summer camp
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/9 "2011-04-06T17:10:53Z")
I just have to mention the book (and so-so movie made of it) that has an excellent treatment of the science and art of smells:
> **[Perfume (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume_(novel))**
>
> Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (German: Das Parfum: Die Geschichte eines Mörders \[das paʁˈfœ̃ː diː ɡəˈʃɪçtə ˈʔaɪnəs ˈmœʁdɐs\] (listen)) is a 1985 literary historical fantasy novel by German writer Patrick Süskind. The novel explores the sense of smell and its relationship with the emotional meanings that scents may have.
> The story follows Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, an unloved orphan in 18th-century France who is born with an exceptional sense of smell, capable of distinguishing a vast range of s...
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### Author:  [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/10 "2011-04-06T17:13:15Z")
There’s a smell when you are near a lake or river with a wooden dock, the smell of seaweed, fish, fuel for the boats, and wet wood. Takes me right back to my youth vacationing on Wellsley Island, on the St. Lawrence River a stone’s throw from Canada. I would give anything to go back for a visit.
Pure rose incense I burned when I lived with my grandmother as a teenager. It’s hard to find the scent I bought back then, but once in a great while I’ll smell it somewhere.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/11 "2011-04-06T17:16:49Z")
> [@salinqmind](#):
>
> There’s a smell when you are near a lake or river with a wooden dock, the smell of seaweed, fish, fuel for the boats, and wet wood. Takes me right back to my youth vacationing on Wellsley Island, on the St. Lawrence River a stone’s throw from Canada. I would give anything to go back for a visit.
My memory of that _melange_ includes creosote. Overall, a pleasant memory.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/12 "2011-04-06T17:21:55Z")
There’s some commercial cleaner I encounter infrequently but when I do it takes me straight back to a specific hall in Kindergarden, I think near a janitorial closet. That’s a 45 year old, rock solid association.
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### Author:  [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/13 "2011-04-06T17:24:41Z")
This is really gross, but the smell of a bathroom where someone has just taken a poop combined with toothpaste (like they also brushed their teeth) reminds me of my grandmother.
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/14 "2011-04-06T17:25:01Z")
What a coincidence. Just earlier this morning I was thinking of this topic. It’s sort of raining and it’s kind of warm out and as I was outside it was raining just enough to wet the ground and it smelled of warm wet sidewalk.
Takes me back to Oklahoma as a kid and playing outside in the day during a summer storm. Those were the best days. We neighborhood kids loved playing outisde in the warm wet afternoons and the sidewalks always had a certain smell and that smell was what I caught a whiff of this morning.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/15 "2011-04-06T17:25:09Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> There’s some commercial cleaner I encounter infrequently but when I do it takes me straight back to a specific hall in Kindergarden, I think near a janitorial closet. That’s a 45 year old, rock solid association.
If it’s anything like the sweeping compound that was reddish granules and sort of conifer-tree scented and tossed on the wood floors at the school I went to, I have the exact same reaction to it. It’s specific!
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### Author:  [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/16 "2011-04-06T17:27:10Z")
The smell of Brut cologne takes me back to getting all snazzed up for parties in the 6th and 7th grades (This was around '69-'70). Man, it seems like the smell of Brut at those parties could almost bring you to your knees.
The smell of freshly baked bread reminds me of my grade school cafeteria and their wonderful yeast rolls. This was in the days when they cooked from scratch.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/17 "2011-04-06T17:29:21Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#):
>
> This is really gross, but the smell of a bathroom where someone has just taken a poop combined with toothpaste (like they also brushed their teeth) reminds me of my grandmother.
Gross or not, I know what you mean. We even had nicknames for the aromas of our grandmothers. One was a urine-based smell and the other was more like butt. I know they took some care of their hygiene but it was a heady aroma even so. More to the point: I remember those smells even now.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/18 "2011-04-06T17:33:01Z")
> [@salinqmind](#):
>
> There’s a smell when you are near a lake or river with a wooden dock, the smell of seaweed, fish, fuel for the boats, and wet wood.
If they made that scent into a perfume, I would totally date any woman who wore it.
The smell of sunblock always takes me to the beach.
A certain “flavor” of rain in the summer takes me back to when my family cranked up a batch of ice cream in the garage during thunder storms. For some reason, whenever we got big storms, we got a craving for homemade ice cream. I would give anything to live one of those afternoons again.
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### Author:  [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/19 "2011-04-06T17:38:39Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> There’s some commercial cleaner I encounter infrequently but when I do it takes me straight back to a specific hall in Kindergarden, I think near a janitorial closet. That’s a 45 year old, rock solid association.
There is a cleaner the janitors use in our new building that is the same as the AFKN station in Seoul. Everytime I smell it I flash back to cleanup duty, and my inability to run a floor buffer.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [April 6, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-that-trigger-memories/577402/20 "2011-04-06T17:42:01Z")
I’d hate to contaminate this thread with their like, but a separate thread on the vilest, most acrid, most horrible smells you’ve ever encountered, and how you hope never to smell them again, might be a fun exercise.
Who wants to start that one?
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