European Woman Reveals Why Americans Can Smell Scents Like Fall & Fresh Cut Grass While People From Europe Can’t
She claims that Americans are more in tune with the scents around them.
Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock When someone says it's beginning to smell like fall, scents like pumpkin spice and apple cinnamon may come to mind. Christmas on the other hand, likely brings up scents like pine, peppermint, and clove, while Spring smells like rain and fresh-cut grass.
However, according to a creator on TikTok, this is a uniquely American experience.
A European woman revealed why Americans can smell certain scents that people from Europe can’t.
Italian and Mauritian content creator @yvanabee explained in a TikTok that she noticed an interesting difference between herself and her American friends. Apparently, those from the States were more attuned to the scents around them
"When I first started getting American friends, I noticed that my American friends were smelling more things than I was," she said. "I call it scent culture."
She recounted an experience she had when visiting a store with one of her American friends. "We were smelling candles, and before she even read the name of the candle, she smelled it and then said, 'This reminds me of spring cut grass," she recalled. "And I thought to myself, 'What does spring cut grass smell like.'"
"If you asked me if cutting grass had a scent, I would tell you yes, but intellectually I would not know what it was," she continued. "Because even though I remember smelling fresh-cut grass, I did not have an association between smell and grass."
She added that the same can be said about the scents associated with times of the year, admitting that she didn't know what Fall smelled like because she only experienced two seasons where she was from.
She recalled her American husband mentioning that he liked a candle that "smelled like fall," and being confused.
Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock
"Whenever I heard an American say, 'This smells like Christmas,' or 'This smells like summer,' or 'This smells like fall,' I was like, 'What are you talking about," she said. "But it's true."
She acknowledged that certain scents are associated with each of these events; she just couldn't draw the connections herself — which is true for many Europeans. For those outside of America, "it just seems like there's less of a link between the scent of something and the thing."
The content creator is not the only person to notice this cultural difference.
A content creator named Josh expressed confusion over Americans' ability to smell rain, saying that he was "dumbfounded" by the concept.
"First off, what are you smelling? What [are] the indications of rain?" he asked. "Cause I can't get my head around the fact that you can walk outside, smell it, and be like, 'Yeah, smells like rain.'"
The smell of rain actually has a name — petrichor. "That is the smell that rain makes when it hits dry soil," @oyasumisushi on TikTok explained. "But it's not just Americans that can smell it. It's humans in general."
Ultimately, it's unclear why Americans seem to be more attuned to scents.
It likely has to do with the fact that smell is so subjective. Unlike like your sense of sight or sound, your sense of smell isn't exactly measurable.
As Stanford Medicine Magazine pointed out, there is no universal standard smell test. While sound can be measured in decibels and light in wavelengths, there is no real way to quantify smells.
So, maybe this phenomenon has to do with the subjectivity of smells, America's love for scented candles, or the absence of accurate smell descriptors in Western cultures. Or maybe, the apparent lack of scent association is only true for a few Europeans on TikTok. Either way, it's certainly an interesting discussion.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.