New words
It's one of those close and drizzle-filled autumn days when everything smells of damp and mould and fungus. I really like the slight freshness in the air that seems to intensify smells; in seasonal synchronicity even my damp woollen jacket's smell is complementary to the autumnal scent.
And then the always excellent Gaw goes and posts about the divine tasting and earthy smelling Beetroot.
Which reminded me to post some utterly useless information to baffle your friends - you might like to know that a main component of the smell of Beetroot is the organic compound Geosmin
Geosmin is the compound that causes the very distinct smell of earthiness. I like it as an obscure word and also as a slightly obscure concept. But geosmin leads you to the even better fact that apparently there's a word for the amazing and mysterious smell of rain on hot dry earth, and the word is rather lovely and mysterious sounding too, it's Petrichor.
I do like being pleasantly surprised by my own language every now and then.
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