That Old-Book Smell - 30 September 2013

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A Way with Words

Education, Language Learning, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2013

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You walk into a used bookstore, or pull down an old volume at the library, and there it is: The smell of old books. If you detect notes of vanilla in that intoxicating scent, there’s a reason. Also, why some people think the word awesome is overused, why Comic Sans is a font almost universally reviled, and the origin of the phrase “around Robin Hood’s barn.” Plus, chuck it vs. chunk it, sharing out, the dummy it, intellectual jokes, and the answers some parents give when a kid asks one too many questions. As in, “Daddy, what’s that?” “Why, it’s a wiggly-woggler for grinding smoke!” Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email [email protected]. Twitter @wayword. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Spark your creativity with the Sims. Sometimes you might feel like you're not creative
0:06.7	and you have to go in search of your creative spark again. Maybe this is catching up with
0:11.3	creative friends, experimenting with a new look or trying out a new recipe.
0:15.7	And thanks to The Sims, inspiration is just one game and one spark away.
0:21.1	Ready to spark something? Download the Sims 4 and play for free.
0:25.0	You're listening to Away with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
0:31.0	I'm Grant Barrett.
0:32.0	And I'm Martha Burnett. The smell of old books. You walk
0:36.4	into a used bookstore, you pull down a volume at the library, you know this smell right?
0:40.8	Grant, it hits you, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
0:43.0	It's one smell. Yeah, how would you describe it? Childhood, libraries, memory,
0:49.0	right? Pleasure, all those things. It all comes from that smell.
0:52.0	Did you know that researchers in London have analyzed that smell and they've come up with a description of it.
0:58.0	They describe it as a combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an
1:05.2	underlying mustiness. Oh really? Yeah. I thought maybe it was insect poo I didn't
1:09.3	want to really want to I didn't want to find out more really. That sort of sounds like a fine wine, right?
1:14.1	Yeah.
1:15.1	Well, and they explained that the smell is actually
1:17.6	the result of volatile organic compounds
1:20.0	that are released into the air from the paper
1:21.9	when you open up a book.
1:23.2	And the reason that you get that vanilla in part is because of the compound Lingen, which is present
	...

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