Petrichor

Finally! The moment you have "all" been waiting for.....

*Insert Drum-Roll Sound here*

PETRICHOR

Okay. Okay. I know you've been waiting all week for this, so...

Petrichor is the actual word for the smell of rain on dry ground! Who knew that actually had a name? I did. Only because I looked it up. Anyways, the word Petrichor is derived from the Greek roots Petri-, meaning stone, and -ichor, which is the fluid that flows in the veins of the Gods.  So, really, when you smell that first rain, you are technically smelling the "blood" from Poseidon's and Zeus's veins being thrust upon the stones of the ground.                                                     HOW METAL IS THAT!?!?!*

The term Petrichor was coined by two Australian research scientists.  I.J. Bear and R.G. Thomas described the smell in a 1964 article in Nature, an Australian Journal. They described a smell of "The oils exuded by certain plants during dry periods, whereupon it is absorbed by clay-based soils and rocks." Bear and Thomas, 1964.

Also, not really related, but the word Petrichor was used in 2 episodes of Doctor Who.  In one episode, it appeared as a smell of perfume!

Be on the lookout** for next week's word, Dysania!   "Who will contract it next?!"

*The combination of an exclamation mark and Question mark is called an Interrobang.  ( ‽ ) THE MORE YOU KNOW!

*But again. Please don't look it up ahead of time.