Hi Tipsters,
Although the question below came to me from one of my friends, not one of my
students, it's interesting and I can't answer it. Any ideas from S&P or
language experts?
-Mike
>I think I asked you this before, but why do we have so many names for
>colors, but so few for smell and taste? It could be argued that smell and
>taste are at least as important to humans as sight, at least in an
>evolutionary sense, right? And there are at least as many different kinds of
>receptors for smell and taste as there are for vision, right?
>
>Yet, you don't hear people say, "That shirt is colored like a tree." But you
>do hear, "That smells like citrus." Or the ever-popular, "That tastes like
>chicken." If I asked you what color my carpet was, you could give me a one
>word answer, and it would be an adjective. But if I said, what does an old
>book smell like, what do you say? Or, how does the flavor of grouper differ
>from the flavor of an apple?
************************************************
Michael J. Kane
Department of Psychology
P.O. Box 26164
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC 27402-6164
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
phone: 336-256-1022
fax: 336-334-5066
