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Midwest Molly's avatar

"Vietnamese people coming into my room wrinkle their noses at the catbox smell yet I can stand right over it and not smell a thing. This is consistent."

What does this mean? I'm sorry- I don't get it.

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Chris Fox's avatar

That they have a sharper sense of smell.

That Asians, possibly selected by millennia of fetish around food freshness, have a better olfactory sense than Caucasians.

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Peaceful Dave's avatar

I can confirm. My Thai wife can smell things that I cannot (no, not covid). When we first wed, her food handling was shocking. She grew up poor without refrigeration. In our kitchen: Me, "Is this OK?" She sniffs, either "Yes, you can eat it" or "No, throw that away." Long before it smells so bad that I don't need to ask.

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Chris Fox's avatar

Refrigerators are for drinks. you'll never see fish in a fridge. Because it's with fish that the preoccupation with freshness reaches its peak.

In preparing a big meal, it's only after everything else is steaming and ready to serve that the fish is killed and cooked; it lives in a pan of water up to the very last second.

Anyway. bigot (stage one above) would say, "see? they're more like dogs."

A Woke would scream "racism! There are no races! There are not differences!"

I say that there has been selection pressure because of the primacy of freshness (the word is everywhere here, t╞░╞бi). It's neither inferiority nor superiority, it just is.

I shrug.

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That TERF Owl's avatar

Thank you for explaining that more.

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Peaceful Dave's avatar

This leads to another third rail issue. Nature vs. nurture of race vs. culture. I can claim no expertise, but I think there is some ratio with variability among individuals. Related of course to the innate vs. culture issues of masculine and feminine traits. Not completely binary but unfortunately not well enough understood.

I am well-traveled throughout Asia, and I have noticed things "Asian" in countries with cultural differences from each other which are also observable. I have no explanation or theory.

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That TERF Owl's avatar

Wow - IтАЩve never heard about that!

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May 5, 2022
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Chris Fox's avatar

I know what you're talking about but that isn't it. Dogs already have 10тБ╡ the olfactory sensitivity that humans do but when it comes to the odors that signify another dog's health (why they sniff butts) it's ten time more sensitive.

I worked at Microsoft before they introduced American hygiene expectations to new employee orientation for workers from a certain country heavily represented in the workforce, You could walk down an empty hallway and the BO would make your eyes water.

I know four (!) people who lived in that country and all four left for the same reason: the smell of sewage everywhere. A sensitive nose ,must be a curse there.

But no. Asians have a sharper olfactory sense across the board.

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