Earlier in the day, a coworker of mine referred to a spreadsheet as "visually arresting," implying that it was pleasing to the eye. Later today on an elevator ride, we all experienced the breath of a third coworker in close proximity. I desperately wanted to say afterward to him that the smell was "_____ly arresting" but I could not find the adverb for it!
My first thought is olfactorily but I find this to be clunky. Is there a word that would have helped me make this joke?
Olfactorily, is the word. - To the sense of smell; as regards smell (OED). But if it sounds too highbrow/clunky, then, for the sample sentence you give, malodorously arresting.
1858 G. A. Sala Journey due North 324 The kitchen's contiguity to me is not near enough to be olfactorily disagreeable.
1888 Cent. Mag. 35 363 He was olfactorily impressed.
1944 R. W. Moncrieff Chem. Senses ix. 187 Structurally, the esters bear the same relation to the acids as the ethers do to the alcohols... Olfactorily, however, there is a difference.
1993 S. Townsend Adrian Mole: Wilderness Yrs. 66 I found the fresh air ‘pine tree’ hanging from the roof of his taxi to be much more olfactorily offensive.
nasally arresting
nasal, from Merriam-Webster:
of or relating to the nose
................
nasally, adverb
The virtue of this word is that you can say
My, now that is nasally arresting!
in a neutral -- perhaps even admiring -- tone of voice and avoid being overtly insulting.
The OED: offers support for this use of nasally:
- By or through the nose; towards the nose; with regard to the nose.
1845 Amer. Rev. Sept. 286/1 Let not the worshippers of Fashion be longer stigmatized as nose-led by a Parisian Dandy..as nasally guided by the savor of ‘flesh-pots’.
..............
1911 Mind 20 295 Nasally, all stimulation tends to be localised on the opposite side, though stimuli well forward may be placed on the same side.
'''''''''''''
2001 Phoenix New Times (Nexis) 29 Mar. He wasn't even sure if Judi had swallowed the drug, or had taken it nasally.
Olfactorily in my opinion is [one of] the only words that would work here. (I disagree with Dan slightly in this regard so I won't delete my answer as a duplicate). It corresponds perfectly with visually -- and, the parallelism is necessary to make the joke funny. It would have been hilarious IMO if you'd have said it. I'm chuckling just thinking about it. ;)
Olfactorily (adv.) To the sense of smell; as regards smell.
(OED)
Dan beat me to the OED quotations for usage (see his answer).
EDIT:
Nasally arresting is pretty funny, too, but pungent and others like it are too specific.
I like this one in particular:
"Wow, how noisomely arresting!".
a : offensive to the senses and especially to the sense of smell noisome garbage
b : highly obnoxious or objectionable noisome habits
noisomely adverb
noisomeness noun
Source: Merriam Webster
How about "malodorous" for something negative or "fragrant" for something positive? "Malodorously arresting" or "fragrantly arresting" would be the result.
I know it's not a 100% transliteration of the joke, but if you're concerned about the clunkiness how about malodorous' less negative root: 'odorously'? Dictionary.com at least, says it's a word and gives a delightful example:
The kitchens, stables and outhouses were odorously barbaric in squalor.
I may have said stinkingly unpleasant or even stinkingly arresting. Olfactorily is too clunky. Since I like to get through life with the least number of problems I would have said nothing. We are told that Dr. Johnson insisted on differentiating between the verbs "smell" and "stink".
How about, "odoriferously arresting".
Pungent - having an intense flavor or odor (MWO)
On the dictionary page it confirms that pungently is a real word.
