Neil: Hello welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
Dan: And I'm Dan.
Neil: In this programme, we going to hear
from someone who smells
smells for a living. Although these are
very expensive smells - smells
that we wear deliberately to make
us smell good.
Dan: Ah, you mean scents and perfumes?
Neil: Yes and perfumes are big business.
And that is the topic of our quiz in this programme.
How much is the perfume industry in the UK
worth each year?
a) £650 million
b) £970 million
c) £1.3 billion?
Dan: Well, I don't nose – smell, nose
- this is just a guess, but I’ll say £970 million.
Neil: Well, I’ll let you know the answer
a little later in the programme. Now let’s
hear from Roja Dove, who is a perfumer.
He designs and creates very exclusive and very
expensive perfumes. In a recent BBC
video he talked about the power of
smells. What does he say there is a very
deep psychological connection between?
Roja Dove: …who we are as a personality
and the type of smells we like. When we are
born, the part of our brain which deals with
smell is empty so we learn our response to smell.
And then when we smell that odorant
again it’s like a trigger or a catalyst
that will revive the original
associational memory.
Neil: So Dan, what does he say
there is avery deep psychological
connection between?
Dan: Between our personality and the kind
of smells we like. The point he is making
is that the smells we experience when we are
very young can have a big psychological impact
on us even later in life.
Neil: I know that feeling – smell is a very
powerful sense. The smell of something can
take you right back in time and fill you
with emotions.
Dan: Exactly. For example, when I walk
through the perfume area of a
department store I always
feel a bit nostalgic because I can smell
the perfume my first girlfriend
used to wear.
It’s a powerful sensation.
Neil: Dove used particular words and
expression to describe this, didn’t he?
Dan: Yes, first he used the word odorant
to describe the smell. It’s not really a common
word. We use it more frequently as part of
the word deodorant, which is something we
buy to cover up what we think of as the unpleasant
natural smell of our bodies. These odorants,
he said, can act as the trigger or catalyst
for these memories.
Both the nouns trigger
and catalyst refer to something that
causes a particular response. So a particular smell
can be a trigger or catalyst
for a particular emotion.
Neil: As well as being a trigger for
memories, smells can, according to Dove,
say a lot about
your personality. Here he is again talking
about the kind of scent to wear if you want
to give a particular impression. What
does he say these scents make you
appear very strong at?
Roja Dove: The idea of the message you
give off with scent I think can’t be underestimated.
My suggestion would be to look for very,
very woody, mossy, structured scents
called Chypres
if the message you want to put across is
that you are someone not to be messed with, very,
very strong in business, or whatever –
just not to be messed with.
Neil: So what do the scents he described
make you seem strong at?
Dan: Business, they can make you seem
very, very strong in business.
Neil: Mmm, and how does he explain that?
Dan: Well, he says that some scents give off
a particular message.
The phrasal verb give off is often used to
describe something that
we broadcast about ourselves without saying
anything. So he’s saying that our scent,
our perfume, can give off a message about
the kind of person we are and that we shouldn’t
underestimate that. If you underestimate something
you don’t give it as much importance as
it should have, you don’t
take it seriously enough.
Neil: He then goes on to talk about the
particular scent that gives off the
impression of being
very strong in business.
Dan: Yes, it’s a woody, mossy scent which
suggests that you are
not someone to be messed with.
Neil: Not to be messed with?
Dan: Yes – someone to be taken seriously,
someone who is serious who you don’t want
to try and trick.
Neil: Right and talking of tricking – did
we trick you with the quiz? I asked - What
was the value of the perfume industry
in the UK?
Dan: And I said it was £970 million.
Neil: And it was actually option c), which
was an incredible £1.3 billion.
Dan: Wow! That is a lot of smelly stuff.
Neil: It is indeed! Right, now, time for
vocabulary recap. What words and
expressions did we have
today?
Dan: Well, first we had odorant – an
unusual word for something that smells.
Neil: Then two words with a very similar meaning:
a trigger and a catalyst – both of which
refer to something that can make something
else happen. In this case it was a particular
smell making us remember something from the
past. So scents can sends us to the past.
But they can also say something about
our personality.
Dan: Yes, they can send unspoken information
- or give off messages. And these messages
should not be underestimated. If you do underestimate
the importance of smell, it means that you
don’t take those messages seriously.
Neil: And finally we heard the phrase to mess
with someone. To mess with someone means that
you don’t take them seriously, you cause
them trouble and that may cause you trouble.
Dan: Well I certainly wouldn’t want to mess
with you! Judging by the messages you’re
giving off.
Neil: Ah you mean my aftershave? Makes me
seem powerful?
Dan: Actually, I was thinking more of the egg sandwich
you had for lunch. I really wouldn’t underestimate
the power of that.
Neil: Ah! On that note, I think it’s time
to end the programme. For more, find us on
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and of course our website bbclearningenglish.com!
Goodbye!
Dan: Goodbye!