# Why does White Out smell so bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158 "2012-07-14T00:02:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/1 "2012-07-14T00:02:40Z")
It’s a really annoying scent. What causes White Out to smell so bad? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/2 "2012-07-14T00:07:00Z")
I don’t think it smells bad. Kinda-sorta like isopropyl alcohol, somewhat. Okay in small whiffs, but I don’t think I’d appreciate being immersed in a room full of Eau de White Out (nor isopropyl either). Furthermore, I worry about it being toxic. That scent just somehow lights up my “oh-oh smells toxic” sensors. **CheeseDonkey** , do you get that sense from it also? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/3 "2012-07-14T00:26:19Z")
It’s to keep blondes from… whoops, wrong forum. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/4 "2012-07-14T00:30:58Z")
It’s basically paint, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/5 "2012-07-14T00:34:34Z")
Extremely quick drying paint that doesn’t soak into paper too much I suppose. You’re smelling the cheapest solvent that the company could find that is: -quick drying; -relatively non-toxic; -stays liquid in the packaging. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/6 "2012-07-14T00:35:09Z")
One site I googled lists naphtha as the solvent for the standard (not water-based) Wite-Out brand. Another lists the LD-50 (oral, rats) as greater than 15 g / kg and butyl acetate as the solvent. Your googling may vary. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/7 "2012-07-14T00:57:26Z")
Liquid Paper and presumably many other correction fluids [add a strong aroma](http://www.nytimes.com/1984/05/10/us/around-the-nation-youths-urged-to-avoid-inhaling-typing-fluid.html)intended to discourage inhalant abuse. Sniffing solvents can be fatal and back in the day before word processing and PCs, a bottle of liquid paper could be found in just about every home, school and office. It was a cheap, readily available way for kids to destroy a few brain cells before winding up in the emergency room. (kind of like modern day “bath salts”, or the model airplane glue of the 70s). > [@](#): > > The product in question is Liquid Paper correction fluid, which is intended to be brushed on paper to cover typewritten errors. The manufacturer is aware of the problem and in September 1982 began to include a strong warning on the label, said Dave Fausch, a vice president of Gillette Company, parent company of the Liquid Paper Corporation. He said thatcorrection fluid made after March 1 contains a strong aroma intended to deter abusers. He said he did not know when these bottles would reach store shelves. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/8 "2012-07-14T01:40:42Z")
I disagree with your premise. I like that smell! ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/9 "2012-07-14T05:02:46Z")
Why is Wite-Out/Liquid Paper still for sale? I can’t think of any need for it. I’ve smelled it but it doesn’t interest or displease me. I wish Magic Markers smelled as good as they did in the Sixties though. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/10 "2012-07-14T12:47:07Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > … the model airplane glue of the 70s). [hijack] Hehe was that a typo or are you just young? 😃 Sniffing model airplane glue goes back, at least, to the 40s and 50s. (Not that there haven’t been periodic rediscoveries of the joys and sorrows of inhaled solvents before and since then.) Lenny Bruce doing stand-up about sniffing glue on [_The Steve Allen Show_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvQpbhaiQao) in 1958! (! because; stand-up, about drug use, on TV, in 58. :eek:) [Better sounding link.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSfk6nKSCcI) [/hijack] CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/11 "2012-07-14T12:54:22Z")
I haven’t used the paint-on liquid version in ages. I’m used to the [correction tape](http://www.speedystationery.com.au/thumbs/bic-wite-out-correction-tape-roller-4.2mm-x-10.1m.jpg) now - no clumps, no stink. Even that stuff, though, I haven’t used since college. I do almost everything on the computer now. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/12 "2012-07-14T13:01:54Z")
I think there are at least two formulas, one water-based, one alcohol-based. You use the one that doesn’t interact with the ink or toner you need to cover up. Otherwise, instead of coverup, you get a non-white blotch. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/13 "2012-07-14T18:08:31Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I haven’t used the paint-on liquid version in ages. I’m used to the [correction tape](http://www.speedystationery.com.au/thumbs/bic-wite-out-correction-tape-roller-4.2mm-x-10.1m.jpg) now - no clumps, no stink. Even that stuff, though, I haven’t used since college. I do almost everything on the computer now. You still use a typewriter? ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/14 "2012-07-14T20:23:30Z")
At least until a couple years ago, high school kids carried white-out in school to correct mistakes on handwritten schoolwork. I didn’t allow it in my classes because it was a time waster and vandal’s tool. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/15 "2012-07-14T20:31:55Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > You still use a typewriter? No, but when I was making handwritten study notes, I sometimes needed to make corrections. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/16 "2012-07-14T21:04:06Z")
Pencils work well for notes that may be corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/17 "2012-07-14T23:04:30Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > [hijack] Hehe was that a typo or are you just young? 😃 > Sniffing model airplane glue goes back, at least, to the 40s and 50s. > (Not that there haven’t been periodic rediscoveries of the joys and sorrows of inhaled solvents before and since then.) > > Lenny Bruce doing stand-up about sniffing glue on [_The Steve Allen Show_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvQpbhaiQao) in 1958! (! because; stand-up, about drug use, on TV, in 58. :eek:) [Better sounding link.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSfk6nKSCcI) [/hijack] > > CMC fnord! You’re right I am young. (at heart anyway) It was in the 70’s as a boy that I remember being refused service when trying to buy some models and glue at the local hobby shop of which I was a very frequent customer. This was a new thing and I had made similar purchases many times. They said a new law was in place and I would have to return with a parent if I wanted to buy glue. So that happened sometime in the 70s and it was the first time I was aware there was a national epidemic of people inhaling glue vapors, but apparently it had been going on for some time before that. (Lenny Bruce was always way ahead of his time) ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/18 "2012-07-14T23:45:32Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > Why is Wite-Out/Liquid Paper still for sale? I can’t think of any need for it. > > I’ve smelled it but it doesn’t interest or displease me. I wish Magic Markers smelled as good as they did in the Sixties though. It’s still useful for fixing hand-written documents and drawings. For many people that might not come up too often but my wife is an elementary school teacher so she still works with lots of hand-written items. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/19 "2012-07-15T07:25:23Z")
Can we extend this discussion to cover white-board markers also. (NOT the same as “Magic Markers”.) I’ve always found those to be rather noxious. Quite noxious, in fact. And white boards are everywhere now. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158/20 "2012-07-15T08:05:32Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > One site I googled lists naphtha as the solvent for the standard (not water-based) Wite-Out brand. Another lists the LD-50 (oral, rats) as greater than 15 g / kg and butyl acetate as the solvent. > > Your googling may vary. Yeah, but whats the LD-50 for google? Thats what I worry about. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-white-out-smell-so-bad/628158.md?page=2)