Last night our neighbors called to ask if we had noticed a terrible odor. They had just returned home after a few hours away and smelled something awful as soon as got out of the car; it was so strong they couldn't tell if it was widespread or localized. We stepped outside of our house and smelled no more than the normal hot-and-humid Florida vegetation smells.
Until we approached their house, that is. We were then hit with what was, indeed, a foul odor. But not, I was certain, a what-died-in-here? odor; it was something chemical rather than biological. Don't get started on the truth that biology is also chemistry; I'd say it was an inorganic smell rather than organic, but that's not true either. I know what I meant, and you would, too, if you'd smelled it. (More)
