Nov 23 2008
in which sense memory behaves in odd ways
I’d heard at some point that it’s kind of a European thing not to use deodorant. I can’t really say whether this is true (sure isn’t for England) and I’m guessing it’s far less so in general by now, at least, but I can definitely confirm that it’s true in Turkey. I know it’s all conditioning and it’s a natural smell and nobody used deodorant until the last century and stuff, but I am conditioned to it, so of course being in crowds of people smelling like BO isn’t a lot of fun.
That isn’t the point here, though. The point is that my Korean flatmate very kindly made us all a meal tonight because she wanted to cook us some Korean food, and I was eating in the kitchen with my flatmates. I kept noticing a smell I thought was in the food that reminded me strongly–and, interestingly enough, very positively–of Turkey. And then I realized I was actually smelling the guy next to me, who…I really don’t know, I suppose he might’ve been working out earlier or might’ve just not showered today. In any event, apparently body odor now smells like Turkey to me, and the weirdest bit is that I didn’t mind; I didn’t move away or anything because the sensation it evoked was a good one, even though I definitely didn’t enjoy that particular experience when I was actually in Turkey.
