Why do some corridors/rooms/new books smell vaguely of vomit?

February 14, 2009 7:54 AM

Why do some corridors/rooms/new books smell vaguely of vomit?

I'm guessing, its some kind of similar chemical compound?
This has been bugging me for years.
And don't state the obvious (someone probably recently vomited there)!

posted by freddymetz to Science & Nature (12 answers total)

Mold?
posted by sunshinesky at 8:05 AM on February 14, 2009

I once had a boyfriend who'd been a janitor. We were in some kind of vomity smelling institutional corridor one day and he said (inhaling deeply) "aaah. Strip solution." Now, whenever I smell that smell, I say the same thing. But I have no idea what strip solution is and why it stinks.
posted by Morpeth at 8:06 AM on February 14, 2009

My guess is an olfactory illusion. Certain chemicals, sometimes in very small doses, trigger apparently unrelated smells. If you're in another room and someone is making fresh coffee, the first tiny whiff smells like skunk. Once you smell the coffee, the skunk is gone. Anyone else notice that?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:00 AM on February 14, 2009

weapons-grade pandemonium, I've been saying that coffee/skunk thing for years. I love coffee, and drink boatloads of it, but sometimes it just smells like skunk. And sometimes the smell of skunk triggers the "mmmmmm, coffee" reflex.
posted by chez shoes at 9:11 AM on February 14, 2009

Yeah, papayas = feet, coffee = skunk, books = vomit.

Oh, and before the cilantro = soap people show up, that's an enzyme thing, your own special oddity. Go you.
posted by iamkimiam at 9:21 AM on February 14, 2009

I experienced this when I worked in a Post Office; my best guess was that it was the glue on all the envelopes we sold.
posted by jhighmore at 9:34 AM on February 14, 2009

I think it's the binder in the paint for the rooms and the glue in the books. Polyurethane resin smells like puke. For books, combined with that musty smell, it's Super Puke.
posted by Mayor Curley at 9:41 AM on February 14, 2009

Butyric acid (from Greek βούτυρος = butter), also known under the systematic name butanoic acid, is a carboxylic acid with the structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. It is found in rancid butter, parmesan cheese, vomit, and body odor and has an unpleasant smell and acrid taste, with a sweetish aftertaste (similar to ether). Butyric acid can be detected by mammals with good scent detection abilities (such as dogs) at 10 ppb, whereas humans can detect it in concentrations above 10 ppm.
posted by jamjam at 9:49 AM on February 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

Really? I have the cilantro = soap thing, but its a special spicy kind of soap that I love to eat.
>shrug<>
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:08 AM on February 14, 2009

My boyfriend was just asking me about this smell with regard to brand-new pens (cheap ones, not $200 pens), particularly those that come out of a package of many pens. Maybe it's the polyurethane resin Mayor Curley mentioned?
posted by marble at 10:30 AM on February 14, 2009

We had this at work last week, someone was washing down the door frames with cleaning solution - and a weird, semi-sweet acrid aroma stalked the corridors in his wake. everyone complained that it smelt like vomit. Is it some kind of ammonia?
posted by freya_lamb at 10:53 AM on February 14, 2009

Yeah, vinegar/ammonia type scents smell like vomit to me. Many sweet & sour dishes repulse me because they have a sweet (obvs) mixed with a vinegary smell that just reminds me of puke.
posted by peep at 11:21 AM on February 14, 2009