Why do some people find the smell of gasoline pleasant?
I’ve always loved these chemical scents. Some have strong association (2-stroke engines = Fun-at-the-lake!). But I liked them as a kid, too. Funny though, today I can’t stand the fumes, they choke me. That isn’t the same as the scent. But I’m very subject to associative pleasure. Creosote and horse manure take me back to my childhood. I have a sewing kit that belonged to my grandmother. She died about ’93. I can still put my face inside the box and draw out the scent of the house she lived in when we gave her that very box, when I was a little kid (and she sold that house in the 80’s). As a child, I could identify the coats of the neighborhood kids by the scent (ie, smelled like their house).
Not sure why. Theory: I think it’s linked to childhood memories. I like the smell of gasoline, and when I smell it I remember going on car trips. On a related note, I don’t huff exhaust fumes or anything, but the smell of certain trucks idling makes me think about going on camping trips in the summer. I also link the smell of chlorine to the swimming pool we had when I was growing up. Another summer memory. These are all horrible smells that don’t bother me.
My WAG is that, much like taste, different people smell differently. I know that might seem painfully obvious to some, but it is likely the case. To wit: When I was in High School we did a test in biology class. We were all given different strips of colored paper (much like litmus strips) and told to taste them and write down what each color tasted like. The answers were typically sweet, salty, bitter, or nothing. Then the teacher put up a matrix on the board and said “All right, who tasted the sweet on the blue strip?”. I was amazed that I was one of the only few who did. He went through all the colors and there was no consensus on what any one color tasted like. The gist of the experiment was that we can’t all pick up on all chemicals in what we taste. The strips had been treated with two specific chemicals that were mutually exclusive to a particular gene. So, if you had the correct gene you would taste blue as sweet, but if you had a different it would be bitter or taste like nothi
