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Mind your language

Petrichor: an awkward word for a pleasant phenomenon

18 August 2018

9:00 AM

18 August 2018

9:00 AM

I’m not too sure about the word petrichor, invented in 1964 as a label for the pleasant smell frequently accompanying the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather. Some things about it are awkward.

Two Australians, Richard Thomas and Joy Bear, had been working for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation on the chemistry behind the smell.

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