• chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I have the same thing. Maybe not quite that powerful, but as a kid I used to root out ant hills to shove sticks in and be a general terror. I thought it was normal until I started dating a girl and we went on a picnic and pointed them out saying we shouldn’t eat there. If I smash one it smells like someone opened a can of gas in the room.

        • CM400@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          I love cilantro, but if I put enough on a taco or something I can taste a little bit of soapiness. It isn’t bad enough to put me off of it, but I get it.

          • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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            7 days ago

            It’s funny. Cilantro tastes weird and I don’t like it, but I wouldn’t say it tastes soapy. That said, whenever I have it, I always notice this weird taste, but never actually recognize it. Then I check the ingredients and there it is.

            • CM400@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              Cilantro in salsa is so good. Something about how the flavor of the tomato acts with it… I need to make some salsa now.

  • kemsat@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Some comments are calling it a genetic quirk, but I submit to you all that it is the ones that lack the ability that have a deficiency.

    • Notyou@sopuli.xyz
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      6 days ago

      Am I also deficient if I lack the ability to taste soap when I eat cilantro?

      • ARk@lemm.ee
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        6 days ago

        please eat all the cilantro so we never have to see it on a dish again

        • Lambda@lemmy.ca
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          6 days ago

          I’m one of the very rare people that have the gene that makes cilantro taste like soap, but likes it. I blame the soap flavoured gum I had as a kid here in Canada.

          So maybe save a little soaplantro for those that want it ;)

            • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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              5 days ago

              It’s pretty common. I mourn for those that aren’t freakish enough to actually want to eat soap. I mourn for those like the parent too, but for different reasons.

      • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Yes because it makes you worse at finding and disposing of those damn stink bugs, whose stink smells vaguely like how soapy cilantro tastes because of aldehydes.

      • And009@reddthat.com
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        6 days ago

        You gotta show em who’s the real boss. Hold tight and jerk hard until successful complaince is observed

  • sartalon@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    There was a brief moment, while I was going through SERE training, in the Navy; it was before we were “captured” but long enough that I hadn’t eaten in a while. We were in the low mountains of SoCal, dry and hot. Whenever we would stop movement for a moment and take a seat, I could smell when an ant was on me.

    I didn’t recognize what the smell was at first until I saw an ant, after smelling it. I hooked him on my finger and brought him close to my nose and it was clear, he was the source.

    I couldn’t describe it very well though, not a common smell to me. Never experienced it since.

    Maybe it was the combination of no food or bathing, and heightened stress. My SiL also went through SERE, says she has no idea what I was talking about, and just makes fun of me about it. But she’s also the type of person who would lie about it, just to fuck with me.

    So who knows.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      It’s a genetic quirk, entirely possible they don’t have it and you do. There’s definitely a thing with real hunger and increased senses too though. I experienced the same thing in Iraq when we out ran our supply lines and went on severe rationing.

    • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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      6 days ago

      Gonna starve myself to see if I have the ant smelling superpower

        • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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          3 days ago

          So far it’s going terrible. I can’t find a single ant to get a control test done. I swear these little fellas were everywhere until they heard my plans to begin developing this superpower now they’re nowhere to be seen.

  • crawancon@lemm.ee
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    7 days ago

    yeah a small % of folks can smell them.

    Last time I was reading through comments from those who could, the common response was “sorta like raisins”

  • BigBenis@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    If I touch an ant I can certainly smell it on my finger but I wouldn’t be able to detect an ant in the room with me

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    7 days ago

    I have it. My mom used to crush ants she saw in the kitchen before she realized that the stink I was complaining about was the stench of compressed ant corpses. Don’t get me started on these stinky fucks:

      • geomela@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        I think that’s a millipede. Centipedes = 1 pair of legs per body segment, millipedes = multiple pairs per body segment.

        In the picture it looks like more than one pair of legs per body segment.

        I think that’s how it is, anyway.

      • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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        7 days ago

        Milipedes.

        The closest I can equate it to is hair chemicals.like the stuff they use for perms or coloring…but worse.

        EDIT: Ants also have a strong chemical smell. Pungent like Krazy Glue but not at all the same.

  • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    The odorous black house ant is pretty common in the US. The smell is pretty pronounced if you crush them - grad student I was doing field work under randomly shouted “come smell my finger!” and yeah - it’s very much like blue cheese.

  • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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    6 days ago

    Omg, this is peak nerd.

    If this is a thing it’s def a special subset of ant smellers that would go ant hunting (whatever quantity of ants).

  • scbasteve7@lemm.ee
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    6 days ago

    I can smell ant death pheromones. It smells like cleaner and artificial sweetener. A very unique smell but very pungent.

  • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    They smell SO BAD. I was super sensitive to it as a kid, and the smell would be impossible to get off, so I developed a habit of never crushing them.

        • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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          6 days ago

          Huh, oh yeah, like any invertebrate, bcs they are within human space which isn’t allowed.

          Idk why my brainhole didn’t make the connection, I def know people that kill eg spiders if they see them.

          I sometimes kill mosquitos that won’t leave via regular ventilation paths.

          • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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            6 days ago

            Like spray them with water? Sure, if they’re in the sink or on the counter. If you mean just swat them away, I wouldn’t trust that to kill them. And as soon as it doesn’t kill them, and they find their way back to the nest, there’s a chance they’ll lead others back, if they found so much as a scrap of food.

    • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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      7 days ago

      As a tool-using species, killing them with something you won’t care about the smell being on seems pretty trivial.

        • Naz@sh.itjust.works
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          7 days ago

          I can’t smell ants but I can smell roaches. Any house or restaurant I walk into that has that signature roach scent, I do a 180° and leave.

          As to describe the scent of roaches: Pungent, wet/moldy towel smell, worse when they’re dead.

          • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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            6 days ago

            You know, I feel like I know that smell as well. Not anywhere NEAR as pungent as the ant smell, but I’ve been in some… Unfortunate situations with enough roaches that I can conjure up that smell.

          • osaerisxero@kbin.melroy.org
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            6 days ago

            In my experience it’s way better, and that having a candle burning will usually clear up the scent of a crush in relatively short order.

    • saltesc@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Yeah. It sounds more like he could be Ant-Man and is able to pick up on the trails. If he can communicate with them by twreking his butt into the ground, I’m convinced.

  • GluWu@lemm.ee
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    7 days ago

    I wouldn’t say I can smell if there’s a single ant in the other room, but I can absolutely smell if there are ants. And I hate if I have to sweep them out do anything because they really pop off in distress. Its crazy how such a tiny thing can smell so bad.