Re: Words for smells

----- Original Message -----
From: "Geoff Horswood" <geoffhorswood@...>


> Another consequence of a subterranean existence...
>
> Odours are rather more significant to the Noygooros
> (lit. "Underworld.people") orcs as a means of recognition and even getting
> around in the dark.
> I'm thinking about trying to group odours into a spectrum or array of some
> form similar to what people do with colours.  I mean, there are a large
> number of different shades that can all be lumped together as "blue"-
> cobalt, royal, sky blue, turquoise, denim, and so on.
>
> Can you do this with odours?  What odours would you use as the "cardinal
> odours"- the categories like blue, red, green and so on that can be broken
> into different shades?
>
> Help!  I feel like I've let my imagination take a leap that my logic can't
> keep up with!
>
> Geoff
Wesley and Barry have made suggestions I would have thought of, too:

Carnal smells-- meat to be eaten, not to be eaten, corpses
    Could fall into several categories: appetizing, irritating, repulsive
Sexual smells-- female, male, orkish, other
    Could induce desire, aggression, jealousy, danger
Natural smells--earth, water, air, stalk, leaf, root, fungi
    Could induce comfort, thirst, feelings of energy
Mineral smells-- granite, quartz, gold, fool's gold, etc.
    Could induce a sense of industry, curiosity, greed, calculation

Just some thoughts!
Sally

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