# What would the Internet smell like? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 9, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527 "2003-01-09T15:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/1 "2003-01-09T15:32:01Z")
Would it smell like a New York City Subway Car? A Doctor’s Office or Hospital? Maybe it would smell like The Bunny Ranch™. I think it would smell like a College Dorm on Monday Morning. What do _you_ think it would smell like? ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/2 "2003-01-09T15:46:22Z")
I think it has the pharmaceutical smell of Viagra. I think it has a barnyard smell from all that farmgirl sex. It has that same burnt protein stench you’d get if you singe your hair, when millions of brain cells fry as gullible people actually believe e-mail hoaxes. It smells like a bank vault, from all the money that people make from those pyramid schemes, uh, I mean, business oppurtunities. It smells like Herbalife. At times though, I can’t smell anything at all because of the congestion. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/3 "2003-01-09T16:12:50Z")
Frankly, I think all the other smells on the Internet would be overpowered by the rancid stench of BS. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/4 "2003-01-09T16:15:10Z")
Like a funky nasty gym. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/5 "2003-01-09T16:34:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*Like a funky nasty gym. \*\* I thought of a gym too but perhaps with some differences. An older HS gym, one that’s been used for dances and pep rallies and class registrations and exams. It’s got the smell of old sweat, of sexual tension, of anxiety and hope…basically it has all the good and bad smells of humanity combined, and they waft past your nose alone and in combinations, so that what you recognize one second can become something completely different the next. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/6 "2003-01-09T16:45:50Z")
Cheese and feet odor, after all, everything smells like that eventually 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/7 "2003-01-09T16:47:35Z")
A huge barge carrying tons of garbage for eternity on the high seas with no landfill in sight. ---
**Author:** ![Insomnomad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e68b1a/32.png) [@Insomnomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Insomnomad)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/8 "2003-01-09T16:50:06Z")
I think it would mostly smell like a mixture of semen and plastic. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/9 "2003-01-09T16:51:50Z")
Judging by it’s most common applications, a cross between a hook shop & an office supply store, with just a _leedle_ bookstore (from Amazon) thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/10 "2003-01-09T17:38:09Z")
sex & candy ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/11 "2003-01-09T17:45:01Z")
I don’t think anyone has ever cleaned the Internet, so it ain’t going to smell good. There will be a fairly strong smell of coffee, but not enough to mask the odors of unwashed socks, miss-spent libidos and a haze of illegal herb. Cheers, Keithy ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/12 "2003-01-09T18:41:44Z")
I think the internet is composed of many different smells, some bad, some nice, all blended together. In other words, it smells like a dump. _typing this with a clothespin over nose_ ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/13 "2003-01-09T19:00:16Z")
Ass. ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/14 "2003-01-09T21:53:31Z")
[Super Troopers] Stinks like sex in here. [/Super Troopers] ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/15 "2003-01-09T22:27:40Z")
Victory ---
**Author:** ![Boldface\_Type](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@Boldface\_Type](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boldface_Type)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/16 "2003-01-09T22:40:17Z")
Spam? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/17 "2003-01-09T22:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lsura \* > It’s got the smell of old sweat, of sexual tension, of anxiety and hope…basically it has all the good and bad smells of humanity combined, and they waft past your nose alone and in combinations, so that what you recognize one second can become something completely different the next. [Miss Honeywell](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0084522), is that you? :d&r: ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/18 "2003-01-09T23:01:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KneadToKnow \* > \*\*[Miss Honeywell](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0084522), is that you? > > :d&r: \*\* _blush_ While I recognize the name of the movie…I’ve never seen it, so the reference is completely lost on me. ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/19 "2003-01-09T23:41:52Z")
A stairwell between a bar and a pet store. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527/20 "2003-01-10T00:17:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lsura \* > \*\*I thought of a gym too but perhaps with some differences. > An older HS gym, one that’s been used for dances and pep rallies and class registrations and exams. It’s got the smell of old sweat, of sexual tension, of anxiety and hope…basically it has all the good and bad smells of humanity combined, and they waft past your nose alone and in combinations, so that what you recognize one second can become something completely different the next. \*\* Sounds like Brooklyn. 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-internet-smell-like/147527.md?page=2)