Chinese idiom · 成语
逐臭之夫
Meaning
Man chasing stench; perverse obsession.
Character by character
Origin and story
Philosophical fableThe Yu He chapter of the Lüshi Chunqiu tells of a man whose strong odor made it impossible for his relatives and acquaintances to live with him. Distressed, he went to live beside the sea. There he met someone who liked that very smell and followed him day and night, unable to leave. The reversal turns what repelled one group into what attracted another.
Cao Zhi later used the exact expression in his Letter to Yang Dezu while discussing differences in people's preferences: most enjoy fragrant plants, yet the seashore has a man who pursues stench. It became a literary label for someone with an eccentric or objectionable taste. The account is a fable, not a medical case history.
Sources and further reading
In everyday life
他自嘲是个逐臭之夫，偏爱那些别人嫌弃的怪电影。
He jokingly calls himself a man of peculiar tastes, drawn to odd films that everyone else dislikes.
Rare and literary, often disparaging; self-mockery can soften its force.