Aw, Lordy, What's that Smell?!

"A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal. "
-Oscar Wilde

I was in class yesterday, and I noticed a sour, stale, sweat-like smell emanating from God-knows-where. I decided it was the guy next to me, who sat there in his own little world, listening to the professor, or pondering life, or whatever. It doesn't matter. What matters is that it was a horrendous smell.

I considered saying something. It would embarrass him, yes, but if I stunk I'd certainly like to know. But I chickened out and, instead, I refrained from breathing.

Today, after I got up and brushed my teeth, I dressed and suddenly was overcome with that same sour smell. I thought to myself, "I'm a clean person, I wear deodorant, I brush, and I shower daily." Then, I realized what was going on, and I was horrified.

Last week, my washing machine stopped spinning. This means that, rather than throwing the soapy water off of our clothing as a washing machine is supposed to do, the machine let our clothes sit and soak until somebody rotated the laundry. So, that sour, mildewy smell was, in all probability, stale laundry water. Some of my clothes simply didn't make it through a cleaning in the new washing machine before being hung in my closet.

The whole ordeal has left me wondering this: how come none of my classmates told me?