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#28765 05/09/01 10:21 PM
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Looking for the word that describes a plethora of various aromas/odors....in the same vein as that wondrous word "cacophony". At lunchtime, the office is filled with these scents emanating from the cubes, a mixture of all possible ethnic cooking... we are at a loss to describe this .... Any help?


#28766 05/09/01 10:27 PM
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a plethora of various aromas/odors

Melange comes to mind, although it doesn't refer specifically to smells.


#28767 05/10/01 02:43 AM
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i suppose you could call it an esculent potpourri


#28768 05/10/01 05:58 AM
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If the smell isn't so crash-hot, I would suggest miasma. I've always liked that word, I have.



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#28769 05/10/01 08:29 AM
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Wouldn't a miasma imply something more physical than just a collection of odours? To me it implies something almost palpable like a mist or fog.

Bingley


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#28770 05/10/01 08:06 PM
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a plethora of various aromas/odors

Melange comes to mind, although it doesn't refer specifically to smells.


Why not smelange?


#28771 05/12/01 06:26 PM
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Miasma is a very expressive word, in Spanish it also means the spray emitted when someone sneezes.
Referring to your question we could coin a new word “cacosme/cacosmic”. It sounds well to me.



#28772 05/12/01 08:13 PM
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gallimaufry?


#28773 05/13/01 07:28 AM
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Bingley wonders Wouldn't a miasma imply something more physical than just a collection of odours? To me it implies something almost palpable like a mist or fog.

Yes, that's the way it's often used. The definitions I found are:

mi·as·ma (m-zm, m-)
n., pl. mi·as·mas or mi·as·ma·ta (-m-t).


A noxious atmosphere or influence: “The family affection, the family expectations, seemed to permeate the atmosphere . . . like a coiling miasma” (Louis Auchincloss).

A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease.
A thick, vaporous atmosphere or emanation: wreathed in a miasma of cigarette smoke.

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[Greek pollution, stain, from miainein, to pollute.]
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mi·asmal or mias·matic (mz-mtk) or mi·asmic (-mk) adj.
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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition
Copyright © 1996, 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


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miasma \Mi*as"ma\, n.; pl. Miasmata. [NL., fr. Gr. ? defilement, fr. ? to pollute.] Infectious particles or germs floating in the air; air made noxious by the presence of such particles or germs; noxious effluvia; malaria.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

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miasma n 1: an unwholesome atmosphere; "the novel spun a miasma of death and decay" 2: unhealthy vapors rising from the ground or other sources; "the miasma of the marshes" or "a miasma of cigar smoke"
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University





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#28774 05/13/01 11:18 AM
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Why not smelange?

I love it. I hereby name you Word-Coiner Extraordinaire!



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