[Mountaindewed]

Someone at work was saying the store smelled like death, and I guess a lot of other people had said the same thing before. I don’t know how anyone knows what death smells like. It doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. But when I got my wisdom teeth out I was smelling death for at least a week if not two. I had never smelled it before, and I must have heard the term, but how would I actually know? I can’t rememeber what it smelled like. There has been an odor at work recently but I didn’t really think much of it.

It seems more like an expression to me. Like something that just smells really bad. I could be wrong but those were my thoughts when I read your post.

[Calla lily12]

It's a sickly sweet smell. Like rotting fruit or flowers.

[ShadowGX]

I always thought when people said "smell of death" they referred to the smell of actual dead things, the smell of decay.

I think your co-worker was just using it as an expression and not meaning literally smelled of death.

[amicus_curiae]

I’m with Shadow. “Smells like death,” to me, is a smell of rot and decay, unpleasant to the point of nausea.

I’ve used the phrase to mean a everything from a kind of overwhelming mustiness to the aforementioned nauseous rot.

I imagine it smells and tastes of blood.

that, and decay

[eskielover]

I think of it as smelling like a funeral home filled with the smell of all those cut flowers that are surrounding the casket.

Everyone has a different thought those words evoke.....but I think it is just an idiom for a smell they don't like.

It could even be the smell like an old musty house that has been closed up for a long time.....like an old tomb.

[TishaBuv]

Have you ever forgotten leftovers in your car overnight? That’s a smell of death you’ll never forget.

Maybe some rodent is dead somewhere in the ceiling of your store or something like that. That’s a horrid death smell.

[katydid777]

Originally Posted by Mountaindewed

Someone at work was saying the store smelled like death, and I guess a lot of other people had said the same thing before. I don’t know how anyone knows what death smells like. It doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. But when I got my wisdom teeth out I was smelling death for at least a week if not two. I had never smelled it before, and I must have heard the term, but how would I actually know? I can’t rememeber what it smelled like. There has been an odor at work recently but I didn’t really think much of it.

It is a very hard question to answer bc it depends on what may have died from, and what may have died. I worked in a very large emergency room, and dealt with people passing away a lot, but it depends on what they may have died from. There are many different smells when a person passes away.

[SorryShaped]

Rotted meat.

[The_little_didgee]

Literally:

Originally Posted by Calla lily12

It's a sickly sweet smell. Like rotting fruit or flowers.

Right before someone dies of advanced age they smell like this, along with a pungent odor mixed in that reminds me of nail polish remover. Once you smell this you never forget it.

[Calla lily12]

Originally Posted by The_little_didgee

Literally:



Right before someone dies of advanced age they smell like this, along with a pungent odor mixed in that reminds me of nail polish remover. Once you smell this you never forget it.

I've always had the ability to smell this , even as a child. I knew when death was near.

[Mountaindewed]

My coworker said a mouse might have died.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I wasn’t sure if it was an actual smell or just an expression.

I know when I got my wisdom teeth out I smelled something that smelled like death for a week or two, but I don’t rememebr the details. I was really scared I was going to die.

[*Laurie*]

I've been with far too many people and animals when they were dying and dead and never smelled anything that I would call "the smell of death". There are certain smells we might associate with death, but death itself does not have a smell. Something that is decaying has an unpleasant or bad smell, but the moment of death has no smell.

[healingme4me]

My mom's home had the smell of death my late stepdads final months. When he was moved to the hospital room the nursing staff needed to install special scent release contraptions by the door.

It's really not like anything unpleasant that one would find day to day it's a different type of unpleasant as the body begins to decay from the inside out. Which I could give a comparison to you. Certainly it's an expression used throughout the years.

The scent of death is like no other. You know the person is dying.

[Travelinglady]

I, too, have been with two old people when they died--and also a dog--and didn't notice any smell. However, when a person or animal has been dead for awhile, there's a distinct smell--yes, it ultimately is like rotting meat, truth be told. Detectives and others around dead bodies often put Vick's Vapor Rub in the edge of their nostrils to cut down on the smell.

However, that said, it could have been an expression of a foul odor or maybe there is something dead somewhere in the store---like a rat.

[catwalk69]

It is Un-Imaginable.