Re: Identity by smell (was Re:silly walks department)

From: James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Date: Thu Jun 08 2000 - 09:26:44 MDT


On Thu, 08 Jun 2000, Zero Powers wrote:
>
> Interesting. So, if you were blindfolded, do you think you could smell the
> difference between a Japanese and a Mexican and tell us which was which?

I think so, though I am not 100% positive. As I said, this is something
I've noticed; my aggregate sample size may not be large enough to mean
anything, although my samples do cover a broad range of ethnic groups. I
do know of other people who have noticed the same thing though.

Also, this isn't that precise, so I wouldn't say "Japanese"; the person
could just as likely be Korean or similar. However, I think a person that
"trained" their nose could make race determination quite accurately. My
nose really hasn't been in training lately, so my smell memory is a
bit weak right now :^) However, Mexican versus Japanese should be pretty
easy to differentiate.

Surely I'm not the only person on this list to notice this.

-James Rogers
 jamesr@best.com



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