Dear Abbott

Dear Abbott,

do you have wet earwax or dry earwax?

froyo

Dear dayo,

Wet is my phenotype! I have never seen the dry earwax. What kind of earwax do you have?

Sorry anyone who finds this gross!

– Towellie

Abbott:

I think usually people remember, but certainly they forget sometimes. It can be humorous when they do forget and ask me to smell something.

No one ever bought me cologne before. Not since I was a teenager, anyway. I have two colognes that I bought when I could smell (accident was in Feb. 2010, colognes are Varvatos..."Vintage?" I forget... and Acqua di Gio) and I guess I'll just wear those if I want cologne.

Do you ever feel like you have to fake having a sense of smell?

Do you ever think people think you mean that you can't smell very well when you say "I have no sense of smell"?

I have a friend who had nasal polyps and she said they prevented her from being able to smell, but one time we got on a train with a vagrant who was so covered in feces and piss and body odor that it *literally* stung my eyes and she was able to smell. So now if I have to explain my condition, I put it in terms of a condition hat I have, not "I can't smell."

Kindred Agnosmic,

Jesse

at least if you get accused of farting, you're off the hook -- no smelling, no dealt-ing

Dear Abbott,

I have dry! I was hoping to alleviate your deodorant fears because:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/science/29cnd-ear.html?_r=1

unfortunately I may have only aggravated them! many apologies

dryo earwax

Oh, and btw, I have felt the need to fake being able to smell. Now when I get on an El car with a truly horrifyingly stinky person, I take my cue from others' offense and move away from him or her. I do this b/c I used to sometimes see a solitary, normal looking person sitting next to the stinky person while everyone else was crowded at the other end of the car, and I wondered WTF was wrong with that person. I will not be him.

I find it easier to fake it sometimes if a stranger is trying to get me to smell their nice-smelling lotion or somesuch. "Oh, how nice." Way easier than explaining the whole thing and having to recite the anosmia FAQ to some incredulous person. If I know I will spend a lot of time around a person, I will take the time to explain so I won't have to in the future, and so I don't feel like they think I'm a liar ("she smelled my lotion four months ago, is she just trying to get attention by being weird now?").

Most people have never heard of anosmia at all, so there's a range of reactions. Framing it as a condition would be wise, I am going to stela that idea. I remember one time I told someone I had no sense of smell and he said, "Neither do I." I got v excited (having never met another anosmic) and started asking questions like we are to each other. Then he said, "I mean, I have a cold." Heartbreak!

What do you miss the smell of the most, besides lovers? What would you say is the best smell? And the worst?

stela = steal, obv!

Dear dayo,

That article wasn't not reassuring either, fwiw. I enjoyed it because I always like to have examples of single gene traits! When I taught biology, I hated when people would use examples of multiple gene traits, like eye and hair color, when talking about simple inheritance. It made it sound like they were single gene traits, and made it hard to explain epistasis, which is easy to explain w/those exact two examples, eye and hair color.

Pedantically,

Abbott

here's an article from the nytimes a few years back about not smelling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/dining/18taste.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=anosmia&st=cse

At one point I found this anosmia web site where people posted messages like, 'There's more to food than flavor - there's still texture and color and temperature!' And that just seemed depressing, like, 'Ah, here's a red cube, and it's tepid, oh boy!'

bahahahaha

It's harder to find stuff about congenital anosmia, tho, it's all peeps who just had it wrenched from them mid-life. Like Stevie Wonder!

I find that the best way to explain my situation is to say "I lost my sense of smell in a head injury." For you, maybe "I was born without a sense of smell"?

What do you miss the smell of the most, besides lovers? What would you say is the best smell? And the worst?

I miss wine, both the smells and tastes. I also miss practical smelling -
like being able to tell when food is spoiled, when something is burning, if my apartment has a weird smell (especially when I've got company and the cat takes a huge dump and I don't know it till later). Also, I wish I could smell my own B.O. and breath. I told my friend Michael to please let me know if I ever had bad breath, but he is really bad at it, and he tries to be "funny" about it (i think b/c he feels like he's insulting me) and we end up having an argument.

This was my first traditional (turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes) Thanksgiving since the accident and I had twinges of melancholy because I was missing the smell that has such huge significance for me (and most Americans).

I miss the smell of the ground after the rain, for sure. Also, the smell of kitties' faces and breath.

Oh- I don't know about the best smell.... There is a scented oil that I love(d) that smells of pine, but also some kind of warm spices and something "sweet." It's ridiculous that perhaps my favorite smell would be synthetic. Other than that, smells of food.

Worst: rotten potatoes and onions. Rotting flesh. People on the El who have soiled themselves for weeks without bathing.

Ok, that's really surprising to me too, the kittens having a smell idea. Same with human babies, people say they smell nice. Though maybe that's just baby powder?

Actually, one of the most upsetting and offensive things I ever read is the following claim, from Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier:

Parent and child may become bonded to each other prenatally, through an exchange of odors and odorlike molecules...Ambient fetal odor types may serve to indoctrinate the circuits toward a receptive and compliant condition. John Money, a caliph of sexology research, has said a person who is anosmic – who has no sense of smell – can feel lust but cannot form attachments.

wtf! I mean that is the kind of claim that fundamentally fucks with my self-perception.
OTOH, I realize this just now: I recently read a book where John Money was a major player and he seems like a guy with more than a few fucked up ideas, so. Maybe I'm not an unfeeling monster who would kill my children, if I had any!

He also seemed like he had a number of powerful and useful ideas, too, not all bad. Just this one got me right through the heart!

DID YOU KNOW?
http://www.gearlog.com/images/stevie%20wonder%20sytnhs.jpg
^^ This man has no sense of smell.

Hi Abbott I am home writing a paper what are you doing on this fine Saturday night?

Besides smelling, obv.

Above discussion gives me a terrible idea for a slogan/catch phrase kind of thing: "Abbott, don't worry, you smell."

Hey Hurting, I am waiting for Grady to return my call so we can hang. I am doing this by hitting 'refresh' on site new answers and drinking a currant cider, which is a little more watery tasting than I anticipated. What is your paper on?

Your slogan is pretty silly.

It's about native american online tobacco sales and the push to regulate them out of existence.

btw Jesse – here is a street sign I came up with to spread anosmia awareness (quick sketch):

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/628/anosmiasign.jpg

ahahaha

Dearest Abbbbotttt,

What songs do you love to dance to when you are by yourself in your room or car or walk-in beverage cooler or living room? Do you enjoy having solo dance parties, and do you enjoy them often?

Fanciest of Feet,
One (1) Mr. Stevie D.

Haha.

We need to start an Anosmiac Awareness Day on Facebook. Maybe I'll try to come up with some funny possibilities for text, but I'm not feeling it now.

I have actually worried that not smelling might mean that I will miss some kind of pheremonal connection and that I will never truly love again.

Holy shit

John William Money...has been the subject of controversy due to his work with the non-consensual sex-reassignment of David Reimer.[1]

btw and xp times a zillion but YES sex smells and YES menses smells. at the risk of dipping into TMI, i find the latter varies among women but is general sort of dark, damp and metallic

smell of rain is like ozone and also absence of smell if that doesn't sound too abstract

dear Abbott,

can you tell the difference between smelling hot and cold air?

Dear Stevie D,

I am solo dance crazy, dude. I remember one time I was dancing to Prince's "Soft & Wet" in the shower and I slipped and hit my head so hard I saw stars. I have a solo dance party in my car on the way to & from work very day. I like any song as long as it is not like Univers Zero or something.

Abot!

Dear dayo,

That literally makes no sense to me! I felt there was a big difference between smoking in hot and cold air back when I smoked, though.

Smellbott

dear Abbott,

when you smoked, were you transported to flavor country? did you have a favorite brand?

Dear dayo,

I was transported to phlegm country, and I don't mean the humor. I loved American Spirits, esp. mediums and lights. Second to that was Pall Malls. Both of these just lasted longer. I did a lot of roll your owns because I was (and am) a pretty low wage earner. SMoking is shitty and I am glad I don't do it anymore.

SNidely (whiplashly?)

Abbott

Hey abbott did you ever get an underrepresented minorities scholarship because of congenital anosmia like in that thread you started?

buzza, I did! $3,000. It's the reason my parents agreed to let me go to Boise State.

kudos!

Abbott,

I just wanted to give this thread a picture of Jaro Hess's "Land of Make Believe," hope u dig it.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_j7-mK6NXNks/SkvmYbF8jUI/AAAAAAAADzM/kf065hqpNQs/IMG_4386.JPG

crütz

oman that reminds me of the map of the world in the Teddy Ruxpin books that I would stare at for hours

my parents had that poster when I was growing up & still have it. beautiful, creepy stuff.

Crütz – I do dig it. I want to hang out by that waterfall.

Dear Abbott-

I apologize for never returning your call on Saturday. I blame three factors:

1) I never saved your number in my phone when you first gave it to me.

2) I was already several drinks deep and iirc listening to the best man give a speech when you called

3) you share a name and an area code with someone who was trying to crash the wedding i was in town for and whom I and my friends were trying to avoid!! So even when I listened to your voicemail I was thinking it was someone else. For the last two days until I read this thread, I was wondering how non-ILX Tucson 4bby got my number!

I know this all sounds very phone-in-the-trunk but I swear it's the truth.

Sorry we didn't get to kick it, guess you have to come to Hawaii now.

Regretfully,

gr8080

:O

Death to false Abby-s!

I can't say 'death to false Tucson area codes,' that would just be silly.

I kind of feel bad for making the voicemail a topic of breakfast conversation:

"how did that crazy girl even get my number?!? 'what's the plan tonite, Grady?' Whatta psycho!!"

u_u

I should have used my full name, Abbiexandrietta.

I'm kind of incredulous about this other 'Abby,' tbh. How old is she? How is it I have never met another 'Abby' w/in ±15 years of my age, and there is one who is now apparently my arch-nemesis and a breakfast ruiner, living in my very town?

could you not hear that my name is spelled w/an 'ie?

Dear Abbott and my fellow gooner

What ever happened to the sloth and hedhehog tattoo? Did you get it done? Is there a photo?

Dear Abbott

I am thinking of getting a tattoo or three myself. One I have planned when I have some money is 'Freedom is a road seldom travelled by the multitude' looping around my right arm just below my elbow. Do you have any good ideas for something else I can get? I kinda want something minimal (black line only, no colouring in) and cartoony on my wobbly left bicep.

S

x

Dear Abbs,

Did you live in SLC for long? If so, did you experience one or more inversions? If so, what did you do to prevent yourself feeling like you were dying? Because I feel like I'm dying.

-Nick

Dear a hoy hoy,

I was requested to draw a sloth + hedgehog for someone else on ILX. I actually drew it, but never scanned it, and I waited long enough to do it that I forgot who it was supposed to be for. SO maybe, if you remember, and you still want that, I can help you out? I never got it.

As for your idea, you should get this:

http://intranet.dalton.org/faculty/BENDER/JJ.Abin.JPEG

Then when people want to talk to you about James Joyce, be like "Who? What? Huh?" I promise this will not make your life a nightmare.

Yours,

Abbott