Smellies

[mkenuk]

From a male point of view, Chanel 5 takes some beating.
It has become the benchmark.

[cmh]

I got some Chanel no 5 for Xmas . Gives me a really bad  headache but dare not tell him!!

[Hobbit]

Does he read the Forum Christine?

[Hobbit]

Brut was popular with the ambitious studs of those times.

Although I see that 4711 seems to have withstood the test of time.  As has Mike's Old Spice.

So many smellies tend to evoke many memories, good and bad.

Oh Val that brings back some memories.  Some very naff adverts with 'enry Cooper & Barry Sheene!

There's a whole shop in Cologne dedicated to 4711

[Valerie]

Oh good grief, Pen, that is hilarious!  A whole shop.....?

[Hobbit]

I know it's bonkers Val!
They have a chocolate museum which is much more to my taste

[cmh]

Hi Pen
no he doesn't read the Forum! He doesn't listen when I point out perfumes I do like either!

[Hobbit]

Ooops Christine - selective hearing?

[pat]

I think of all the word suggestion posts this one must hold the record for the number of responses that don't even relate to the validity of the word itself! 

[Alan W]

This is one case where the exclusion of the word is not because it's regarded as a plural: we have no word smellie in our lexicon. So it's just that smellies isn't recognized.

Collins Dictionary lists smellies as a plural noun meaning "pleasant-smelling products such as perfumes, body lotions, bath salts, etc". It's tagged as British English and informal. Wiktionary has a similar entry, though it also states that the smellies, in Britain, means cinema enhanced with odours.

The word, in the toiletries sense, is certainly used in British publications. The earliest example I found was in the 1991 novel Angel Hunt, by Mike Ripley:

We were roughly in the middle of St Christopher's Place, which isn't a 'place' in the French sense, just an alley that cuts between Oxford and Wigmore Streets. It has a fair cross-section of shops selling fashion, books, military models and bathroom smellies.

A more recent example is from the Manchester Evening News on 6 April this year, which had the headline "Passenger caught with nearly £100,000 of cannabis at Manchester Airport - then told officers they were 'smellies'".

I'll add smellies as a rare word.

[pat]

Thanks, Alan. To add my voice to the comments that had nothing to do with the validity of the word  I've recently found a smelly that I don't like. For the last few weeks I've had what appears to be an allergic reaction to something, even though I've never suffered with allergies: runny nose, sneezing, sore and itchy eyes. I belatedly realized its onset coincided with some laundry liquid I bought by mistake, thinking it was my usual one. It has an extremely strong and pervasive smell that lingers for ages. I've ditched it now - I hope it proves to be the culprit.

[Ozzyjack]

When I was a teenager, my mother nearly turned me off using "smellies".  Her saying was "You stink pretty". I had not heard the term "smellies" until this topic came up on Chi.

[TRex]

Thanks, Alan. To add my voice to the comments that had nothing to do with the validity of the word  I've recently found a smelly that I don't like. For the last few weeks I've had what appears to be an allergic reaction to something, even though I've never suffered with allergies: runny nose, sneezing, sore and itchy eyes. I belatedly realized its onset coincided with some laundry liquid I bought by mistake, thinking it was my usual one. It has an extremely strong and pervasive smell that lingers for ages. I've ditched it now - I hope it proves to be the culprit.

Did ditching the laundry liquid resolve the problem, Pat? I sure hope so. Don't know why the manufacturers have to make them so smelly.

[pat]

I'm not sure, TRex. I'm still suffering but maybe not quite as badly. I'd washed lots of clothes before I became suspicious of the washing liquid and those that haven't yet been worn and washed again still smell of it when I get them out. If it doesn't turn out to be the problem then I don't know what is.