Rant #2,148: Unforgettable

Let's harken back to all of our childhoods for a few minutes.

Probably one of the first "toys" you received when you moved from the infant stage to the toddler stage was that sticky, gooey concoction known as Play-Doh.

Along with Silly Putty, this "toy" was a favorite of the five and under set, and at the same time, the bane of every parent, because it not only got all over everything, but it had a smell that you could not get out of your dwelling.

And it is that smell that we are going to focus on today.

Even if you haven't smelled a container of Play-Doh in eons, you know that smell. It is sort of a musky, almost vanilla-like aroma that doesn't smell as good as musk and vanilla smell like on their own.

It has that manufactured stink, and stink it does.

Well, since everyone pretty much can remember what eau de Play-Doh smells like, Hasbro, Play-Doh's manufacturer, recently trademarked the concoction's scent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

That's right--the scent.

Hasbro describes the scent as "a combination of sweet, slightly musky, vanilla-like fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, and the natural smell of a salted, wheat-based dough."

OK, if I didn't read the previous lines that I wrote, I would think they were describing the newest fragrance on the market, but that being said, they could have described the scent in one word:

Wretched.

If you remember, not only did the dough get all over everything in its path, but you could not get the stink out of the house unless you sprayed around or opened a window and hoped for a stiff breeze.

Originally devised by somebody by the name of Noah McVicker (now you have someone to blame) for a soap company known as Kutol Products at the request of Kroger Grocery, which commissioned its creation as something that could be used to remove coal residue from wallpaper (!), the compound made its debut at an educational convention as a creative "toy" for kids in the early 1950s, and the rest is history.

Where does that stink come from?

It comes from its ingredient mix for sure. I suspect this, even though I am no scientist.

For kicks, I looked up what makes up Play-Doh, a concoction that has been around as a "modeling compound" for children since 1956, and yes, it smells like it, too.

Anyway, the concoction that goes into making Play-Doh includes salt, water, starch, some type of lubricant, some type of preservative, and of course, whatever is used to give the mound its color.

And yes, if you were wondering, Hasbro has the patent on the overall "starch-based modeling compound," so now they basically own the entire mound of Play-Doh, from the actual glop to its aroma.

I absolutely remember playing with Play-Doh when I was a kid. It was a new "toy" back when I played with it in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but I do remember not only how it felt as I squeezed it in my hands, but I also remember shoving it through different plastic molds to shape it into different shapes.

And my kids played with it too. Not only did it get all over everything, but try to get Play-Doh off of something when it hardens. Even the strength of Superman could not get that off the carpet, the bed, or wherever else it ended up.

I don't want to be gross, but I think part of the fascination that kids have with this goop is that it is reminiscent of their own bodily goop; it's like playing with it, in a funny sort of way.

Whatever the case, Play-Doh is pretty much part of every little kid's childhood. There have been copies of this concoction, cheap rip-offs that simply don't have the same allure as the original.

But when one says that there is nothing like Play-Doh, not a truer thing has ever been said.

There really isn't anything like Play-Doh, and that is something that I think we can all agree upon.