Madhu, on his way out of town, treated me to a tasty buffet lunch at Turmeric in Sunnyvale. I got there ahead of him and had time to loiter in the street, feasting my nose; the whole of Murphy Avenue between Evelyn and Washington was redolent (a word I’ve never used before) of temptations. A very good thing to know, next time I’m hungry in Santa Clara County.
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comment by mmk — Wednesday, 2007 August 8, 22:49
Pendantic perhaps, however to me the construction of “… was redolent of temptations” seems inferior to “… was redolent with temptations”.
comment by Anton — Wednesday, 2007 August 8, 23:14
Thanks for your concern. I checked a dictionary (the only one then in reach) before posting; it specified of. Just now I checked two others; both accept either of or with, though in one of them the examples hint at a nuance: with the odors themselves, or of what they suggest.
I was tempted to naturalize the verb as redole. If I had, I’d be worrying about whether it takes a preposition or a direct object, with nothing to guide me!