Smells Familiar

I love the smell of suntan lotion.


I wouldn't say it's the most attractive smell in the world, though. Fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies or Polo or Tommy cologne for men are usually more enticing for me. However, the scent of suntan lotion usually falls among my top ten favorites.


But anyway, one day I was sitting in my Social Psychology class when I was suddenly struck by the scent of suntan lotion on the girl in front of me. The hybrid of bitter and sweet scents with the hint of UV protection and coconut fragrance [forgive my horrible description] made me melt. It started a daydream of summer memories of concerts in the park, beach bonfires, pool parties and sunny days of roaming the city. I was struck by the impulse to grab my bag and make a run for the lake. All of this was because of a burst of fragrance.


Whenever I have a smell moment like this, I'm reminded of the 2004 Old Spice Red Zone body spray commercial. In the commercial, two guys are watching a football game while their annoyed girlfriends look on. When the game goes into overtime, the boys prance around with excitement and one of them runs to hug his girlfriend in celebration. The girlfriend gets a whiff of his body spray and starts reminiscing about romantic moments with her man. As she completes the reverie and her boyfriend rejoins his buddy, she swoons about how amazing her man is.
Anyone remember this? [I had to look it up, not gonna lie.] Anyway, the only part of the commercial that has really stuck with me all these years was the announcer's line, "Scent is the strongest sense tied to memory."


I remember my first date. The guy I was with smelled amazing (Sorry, that was not supposed to come off as creepy). I assume it was because of whatever body soap he had used when he showed that afternoon, because we were 13 and probably too young to even consider body spray, cologne, etc. Now, whenever I get a waft of that same scent, I think of that former crush. However, the scent-memory link becomes a curse. Last weekend, my cousin smelled the same as the boy I went on my first date with. Needless to say, throwing my cousin into the memory mix was a tad awkward. On the upside though, I'm still friends with the boy I went to the movies with almost six years ago, and he still smells the same way. Even though a lot has happened between us in the past six years, because of his scent, I have a hard time staying mad at him. When I'm standing downwind of him, I catch his scent and recall the good old days.


According to Kristen Cole's interview with Rachel Herz (see Cole's article "Whisking up a memory with a whiff"), who explored the "psychology of scent," people often take their sense of smell for granted. However, those who have lost their sense of smell report a loss of "emotional intensity toward life," and "experiences are flatter" for these people.


According to Kristen Cole, it is still being debated whether or not smells trigger more accurate memories than other stimuli. However, researchers have found that smells trigger more emotional memories than other stimuli. Cole uses the example of memories of the deceased and emotional reactions to such memories. When viewing a photograph of a deceased loved one, we may be able to hold ourselves together. However, when we smell a scent that relates to that loved one, we may feel like breaking down.


Clearly, the sense of smell is a blessing. Even though the scent of skunks, spoiled milk, rotten eggs and dirty diapers may not he be highlight of our lives, think of how less rich our lives would be and how our memories would be affected without the sense of smell.

You're the Idiom!

"I told the elephants to forget it, but they can't." -Zazu, The Lion King


When I was little, my dad used to describe me in terms of animals. He would often give me the compliment that I have a memory like an elephant or that I was "strong like bull." I've also heard analogies such as: she has the ears of a snake, he's sly like a fox, she's mean like a snake, he's slow like a turtle, she's quick like a cat, he's as quiet as a mouse, she's as gentle as a lamb, he's as mad as a wet hen, "don't you wish that you could be a fly on the wall?"(Miley Cyrus) etc.


So, I was wondering, how much truth do these analogies hold?


According to naturehaven.com, elephants actually do have good memories. The Web site says that elephants will often remember relationships with those they come in contact with, even if they have not seen that other person or animal in a long time.


Does anyone remember The Wild Thornberry's? When I read the above fact on the Nature Haven Web site, I was reminded of one episode in which Eliza talks to elephants. Eliza's family tends to an elephant stuck in the mud, giving Eliza a chance to bond with the elder elephant of the pack, Rebecca. Eliza's parents had worked with Rebecca twenty years earlier, and Rebecca claimed to remember them and their kindness. As Rebecca dies, she recounts for Eliza some of the events of her past and the other people and elephants she had had relationships with.


Another example of this analogy used in fiction is in Disney's The Jungle Book.
Colonel Hathi (an elephant) asserts that an elephant never forgets. However, moments later, the colonel forgets to tell his company of marching elephants to halt, thus causing an elephant pile-up. Mowgli then proceeds to laugh at the irony. "An elephant never forgets," he says, laughing.


Most of the other analogies I mentioned are common sense. For example, one of the most common images of a bull, at least in American culture, stems from the Spanish bull races. Bulls are depicted as ferocious animals that are easily agitated and could cause a great deal of damage to someone who gets in the way, hence strength. However, one that I havent understood is the "ears of a snake" analogy.


For those of you who are not familiar with this analogy, I heard it in the movie Jingle All the Way (with the Govenator!!! and Jake Llyod, a.k.a. the young Anakin Skywalker). In one scene, Myron (Sinbad), a father who is trying to obtain a hot Christmas toy for his son, go as far as to threaten a radio dj and a squad of cops with a bomb he picked up at his post office job in order to get his hands on the desired "Turboman" action figure. When he leaves the bomb squad with the bomb and escapes, he threatens, "I'll know if you move 'cause I have the ears of a snake."


For me, this didn't seem logical. Have you ever seen a snake with ears?


Turns out, snakes lack the external ear parts that humans have, but do have the internal ear parts. According to Highlightskids.com, snakes sense vibrations in the air or on the ground. Their skin and muscles receive the vibrations and transport them to the audial region. Therefore, snakes can sense movement, as Sinbad declared in Jingle All the Way.


All these analogies have made me wonder why humans feel the need to compare ourselves to animals. With our advanced brains, shouldn't we have been able to create better ways to describe ourselves?


Supposedly, some of the animal analogies we use today are from the Ancient Greeks. The Greeks had a saying, "A camel never forgets an injury," which may be the origin of our saying, "An elephant never forgets."

Maybe we use animal analogies because they are easy to understand. Animals and nature are all around us and are easily observed. Most people have some basic knowledge of animals and are more likely to understand an animal analogy than a psychological explanation or a Lewis Dot Diagram. This use of analogies could be proof of how evoluationary theory permeates our culture. Evolutionary theory suggests that humans are evolved from other types of animals. Perhaps, when we use these analogies, our roots are showing. Maybe humans are trying to find ways to relate to their origins and the world around them.

Belly Buttons

A couple of weeks ago while at a graduation party, one of my friends started asking people what type of belly button they had. She claimed that this question would be a great getting-to-know-you activity that would reveal something you probably didn't already know about your closest friends. She was right. I definitely had never checked out my friends' belly buttons before that night.

But then I got to thinking, what determines whether a person gets an innie or an outie belly button? From what I recall, all of my friends that were present that night, including myself, revealed that they have innie belly buttons. Is one type any better than the other? Does the type of belly button mean anything?

A belly button is one characteristic that indentifies humans as placental mammals, or mammals that grow in the wombs of their mothers. The belly button is the spot where the umbilical cord, which connected us to our mothers and brought us the oxygen and nutrition we needed to survive those first nine months of life, was attached to us. I think it's safe to say that without belly buttons, we would not be here today. Everybody has one, with the exception of Kyle XY, of course, but that's another story.

According to Wisegeek.com, 90% of the human population has an innie belly button, while the remaining 10% have outies. This means that if you have an outie belly button, you are as rare as a left-handed person. Obviously, you're pretty darn special.

From what I found in my research, it seems that scientists have not come up with an exact conclusion as to why some people have outies and others have innies. According to Wisegeek.com, it's random. The belly button is the scar left over from the umbilical cord, and the scar tissue determines the shape of the belly button.There are other theories -- such as that innie belly buttons are the norm, and outies are a genetic abnormality; it depends on how the doctor/nurse cuts the cord; or that a muscle hernia in the abdomen causes the belly button to pop out-- but according to Wisegeek.com, these theories are possible but not probable.

Interestingly, the belly button can change during pregnancy. According to Bermant Plastic Surgery's Web site, the walls of the abdomen push out as the baby grows, which changes the position of the scar tissue and the shape of the belly button. For some women, their innie becomes more exaggerated, while for others, their outie pops out even more, according to the site. But no worries, girls. The Web site assures that these changes are usually temporary and typically go back to normal after giving birth.

Some people like to decorate their belly buttons with piercings. Hey, if you've got it, you may as well flaunt it. For those of you who choose to do it, more power to you! I don't think I could go through with that. It looks a bit too painful for my liking.

Even with your decorations, if you're still not happy with your belly button, fear not. With today's modern technology, there are options for reshaping your belly button with plastic surgery. However, this does not mean that you should feel self-conscious of your belly button. If you've ever been around a baby, you've probably gushed or at least heard others gush about how adorable his/her belly button is. Channel some of that good energy and love the one you've got. :-D

Welcome to my blog!

As a journalism student wanting to keep her writing skills sharp over summer vacation, I decided to start this blog to document my random musings. I selected a rather open-ended topic to allow myself the freedom to discuss virtually anything I can think of (within reason, of course).

My goal for my theme is for me to write about random topics that people would not usually think of writing about. Many of these ideas, I suspect, will be inspired by the random musings of my friends as well.

The title of my blog was inspired by my psychology class. According to the Free Dictionary by Farlex, expressive aphasia is a condition in which a person experiences a partial or total loss of the ability to communicate through spoken or written word. The aphasia is also characterized by an inability to understand others or recognize names, both common and proper, according to the Free Dictionary by Farlex. However, most people experience mild forms of expressive aphasia when they experience the 'tip of the tongue' phenomenon--you know, when there's that one word you know but just can't remember or articulate.

This is where my blog comes in. I hope to articulate those thoughts that are on the tips of people's tongues. By this, I mean that I will discuss utterly random topics that most people know about but think are too random to talk or write about.

My blog is intended to entertain and amuse. Hopefully, some of the posts will be informative as well.

Happy Reading!

~Passion4Words.