Is it normal that i tell who someone is by how they smell?

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4 Comments

I feel like as long as Ive been around someone more than once, if they have just left the room i walk into or some other combination of them moving around, that I can tell who it is because everyone I know smells a little different and I can tell who by the smell.
Clarification, by smell, i mean the ambient scent they leave as they move by or leave a room, and not usually related to if they wear cologne/perfume, as most people i know do not.

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67% Normal
Based on 12 votes (8 yes)
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Comments ( 4 )
  • Boojum
    5 years ago

    Some scientists believe that humans have the necessary equipment to be nearly as sensitive to odours as a dog, but most of us unconsciously tune out that input and focus primarily on what we see. There have been experiments which seem to suggest that scent plays a significant subconscious role in decisions we make on things like selection of sexual mates.

    What you can do is unusual, but there are people who are very sensitive to scents. Maybe what you have in your nose is physiologically different from the norm, but it's possible you just consciously pay more attention to what you smell than most people do, and so you've gotten better at it.

    My sense of smell is generally pretty crap, but for some reason I'm very sensitive to the scent of rancidity. As super-powers go, it's pretty shit, but it was useful when we had an olive farm in Italy.

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    • UncleYeetus
      5 years ago

      AS for sexual mates, I admit that I can be attracted to someone sexually, but once close to them I often am sort of turned off if they smell a certain way, the best way to describe it, is that the people that I find the most attractive and actionable in bed so to speak, tend to have a somewhat mild sweet scent about them, aside from any deodorant or perfume. I say people cause Im Bi so double then fun for me lmao

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    • UncleYeetus
      5 years ago

      Ah, that makes some sense, I mean I am on the Autism spectrum, maybe being autistic has unlocked more sensitive smelling, as I am generally very sensitive to smells anyway. This and I have this very weird sense that I can tell if someone is in a room with me, even if I cant see or hear them, my friends have never been able to sneak up behind me to slap my neck and such, I always catch them. Lol Autism superpowers

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      • Boojum
        5 years ago

        As far as sensing someone in the room with you, maybe that's your super-nose as well. It could be that although you're not consciously aware of smelling someone, you can, and so you just get a feeling.

        Probably more likely it's something to do with sound, though. If a body enters a room, the acoustics will very subtly shift. Also, people don't really have a stealth mode: even if they're moving as quietly as they can, they're still breathing, their feet are still touching the floor, the fabric of their clothing is shifting, and their heart is still beating.

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