What smell do you remember from long ago?

Question

I've heard that smells can conjure up memories more than anything. What is yours?

Answer 1

the nicest odour i've ever come across was the perfume of a WPC who visited my house when i was young [about 5, 6 or 7]. for some bizarre reason, the smell eminated from her clip-on tie, and i became engrossed by it.

i asked the WPC if i could wear it, and she let me keep it. that smell was my first real aromatic remembrance.

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burning rubber of the buses coming home from school on a summer's day.

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dry, freshly cut grass on the playing fields.

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i don't really have a definitive one.

Answer 2

I love this question.

Baby's Own soap. It just SNAPS me back to when I was about 7 or 8 (my sister was a baby). It reminds me of the middle of summer, lemonade stands, funky looking bicycles with banana seats and streamers on the handlebars, skipping ropes, hot asphalt sidewalks, Bazooka Joe bubblegum with the comics in the wrappers, Sunday school, the smell of the air after the rain, warm sunshine, clothes on a clothesline... My childhood rocked.

Others: The smell of coffee and bacon and a cool pungent autumn breeze through an open kitchen window.

Lilacs and rain.

The way my grandfather smelled of pouch tobacco and sawdust.

Baby's hair.

Answer 3

The smell of fresh cut grass brings many fond memories back to me. It reminds me of summer days mowing the lawn at my Mom's house in Connecticut and how nice it smelled when freshly cut. Also being spring and summer with all those aromas just added and enhanced the experience! Memories of mowing just before outdoor family gathering, to earn extra cash or just because it was fun to chop stuff up violently by running it over!! These are all great childhood memories that the smell of fresh cut grass brings back to me!!

Answer 4

I was working on a car engine 30 years ago, and this horribly acrid (?) smell came up out of the carb. I don't know what it was and never want to smell it again!

A good smell would be marijuana...something I haven't smelled (unfortunately) in 10 years.

Answer 5

My dad used to make wine in the kitchen. One time it exploded, purple all over my mom's yellow kitchen. I remember the smell of the wine and bleach when he tried to clean it up before she got home. Not only the smell but the visual remains with me after 30 years.

Answer 6

The smell of my mother's kitchen in the summer time while putting away vegetables from the garden. The one I recall most of all is tomato relish. I never liked the smell of it but I can always remember it.

Answer 7

Good question! I love the smell of rain in the late spring--it reminds me of this church retreat I used to go to when I was a kid. And Rose Art crayons used to have a weird sweet smell to them--they were cheapie crayons, but I liked the smell. Then, when I went to college, there was a lake on campus and it smelled just like Rose Art crayons. Fantastic. And I love the smell of puppy breath--it smells like burnt pancakes. I smell burnt pancake, and I think of a sweet puppy potbelly and a little puppy stick-tail and fuzzy puppy fur--awwww! Sweet baby puppies! That's a good thing to think of.

Answer 8

Good question. For me I think the smell I remember best is the way the old fashion ice cream parlors used to smell. After that my dad's old spice aftershave.

Answer 9

Dead fish. No really, I grew up near a lake and I always remember that "fishy" smell especially around summer time. I've never really liked summer, but I love the smell of lakewater, fish, and plants.

Answer 10

As I read your question, I was immediately overcome by the smell of cloves and apples and at the same time, I could picture my mother serving out Apple Dumplings with cloves and an extra large dollop of thick custard..............

(Sincerely, thank you for the memory of 50 years ago).