Why do some people find the smell of gasoline pleasant?
Do you mean actual gasoline, or exhaust fumes? Because while I loathe the smell of gasoline, I adore the smell of exhaust fumes. Being stuck behind a bus in traffic….mmmmm. About 10 years ago I got a drop or two of gasoline on my skirt while pumping gas, and I got sent home from work because the smell was making everyone in the office sick. I got some gasoline on me earlier today when I was throwing a rototiller in the back of a jeep, and it’s still nauseating me. I’ve washed my clothes twice and I can still smell it….guh.
I like the smell of gas a lot. I even remember having a gasoline scratch and sniff sticker. I think the memory I associate it with is being at the lake with my parents and their friends, watching my dad gas up his motorcycle. Or maybe I just like it because I like it. I also LOVE the smell of skunks…in passing. I think skunk smell = country, outdoors, road trips.
I don’t think it’s associative; at least it definitely isn’t for me. I don’t drive, nor do I particularly like cars. I’ve just always found the smell really pleasant in a physical, visceral sort of way (as opposed to, for example, the smell of subways, which I like for its evocative qualities, rather than its body). Nobody in my family was an automotive enthusiast, either. FWIW, tho, my, my older brother and my younger sister all like the smell. There are plenty of trades and hobbies that come with their own set of idiosyncratic smells, none quite so popular as gasoline. Therefore, I don’t think it can be fully explained by evocation and reference.
