Tuesday, July 8, 2008

dismell

See on this page a definition:

So what's this word dismell? Never heard it before? No, and it will not be found in the Oxford English Dictionary. It is a Tomkins' neologism for which he apologised (Tomkins 1991: 21).

As I drank the coffee I could smell the sour milk and if I was repulsed sufficiently may have decided not to drink.

If disgust is a word indicating a bad taste, dissmell, Tomkins says, is his analogue for a bad smell. The facial characteristics are upper lip wrinkled and head pulled back. The body may also withdraw distancing itself from the source of the bad smell. Dissmell is an early warning of noxious substances. Dissmell and disgust may operate independently or together at different intensities. Anyone on the receiving end of the dissmell affect, being treated as if they smell bad, will suffer reduced self-esteem and thus experience shame (Nathanson 1992: 125).

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