That sure is an exact pet peeve, isn’t it? But I am reading it everywhere. As soon as the female main character gets the slightest whiff of a love interest’s scent, she goes like ‘he smells of A, B and C.’ A lot of the time one of the scents is a nature one like fresh fallen rain or something. I have never met a person, who had that scent if they weren’t in the rain and even then they don’t really smell like fresh fallen rain. They smell wet. Because their clothes are wet. Depending on the clothes’ material… they even stink.
But let’s call that artistic freedom and put it aside.
What is it with this A, B, C formula? Is there a law written somewhere?! I smell a lot of people – public transportation doesn’t give you a choice. I have smelled people more or less intimately, too. I never thought “they smell of cinnamon and a forest on a warm summer’s day…. and something that is uniquely their own”. Not once! I may smell their shampoo or perfume or maybe even laundry detergent powder. I may think “mh, their hair smells of oranges…”, but that’s it.
Maybe I like their smell, maybe I don’t. This doesn’t seem to be an option in fiction… love interests smelling bad?
Have you ever met someone, who smelled of exactly three things?
Can you imagine what the smell is supposed to be like if you read something like that?
Categories: Discussions
The Queer Bookish 
I’m so confused by the idea of “smelling” people. The only smells I’ve ever noticed on people are stale cigarettes if they’re a smoker (which, ew, not sexy at all) or gross “boy” body spray like Axe (also ew, not sexy). Girls generally smell a bit nicer, if they use a scented lotion/perfume, but even then it’s not “evergreen forest and gingerbread cookies and Christmas Day” or whatever crazy descriptions authors come up with! You’re right, this is a weird trend!
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Oh my god, why did you had to remind me of Axe body spray?! I don’t know how often I nearly died because the male identifying pupils in my class thought you can skip a shower if you spray yourself with that from head to toe and back! But exactly, they smell of that and not some strange A,B,C combination.
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So gross! One of the guys at work uses a sunscreen with Axe infused in it (“Sunscreen for Men!”, because that’s an actual thing), and it makes me gag it’s so strong.
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Um… WHAT?! Aside from the whole ‘men need manly products or they become gay’ thing… why would someone put Axe in sunscreen? Omfg, please don’t ever let that thing be known here in Germany….
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Maybe American men are just so insecure in their masculinity that they can’t stand to use the same products as women? Although, I do work on a military base, so there are a LOT of Manly Men here.
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