The problem with talking about flavours in descriptive terms is that you simply don’t have precise, objective descriptors for your experience. My co-workers and spouse went through sensory evaluation training at one point. The first step is to subject the participants to a battery of standardized chemical compounds with specific terminology associated with each, to establish a common baseline of terms. This isn’t fun – the scents/tastes are very intense and overwhelming. There were something like 38 of these, and spouse was feeling quite queasy by the end.
But then you get into the combining of these. This is where terms like “barnyardy” can be quite positive. In fact, “barnyardy” is mild compared to… “catty.” As in, the scent of tomcat piss. Which, once again, isn’t always a negative! It’s all a question of proportions and expectations.
as an aside, “flavour” probably doesn’t mean what you think it does: Flavour in the sensory evaluation world is the combination of aroma and taste. Want to see the difference between flavour and taste? That one’s a personal favourite – pun not intended for once. Put a pinch of cinnamon powder on your tongue. Now do the same thing, but do it while holding your nose shut. To the vast majority of people the cinnamon will taste exactly like sugar. The combination of taste and aroma, that is the familiar flavour of cinnamon.
Precisely the case. When the Wired site choked on my AdBlock plugin, blacklisting them in ScriptSafe (all under Windows/Chrome) solved the problem.
