Talking of tasting like shit, I remember a famous wine writer scoffing at the euphemistic way in which some aficionados described the aroma and taste of pinot noir wines as "farmyardy." What they really meant, said he, was that the aroma and taste was redolent of shit, the sort of taste you might have got as a tiny child as you sucked your finger that had just been up your own bum. He chided any of his readers who might indignantly claim that they didn't know what he was talking about, and then went on to say that it wasn't exactly an unpleasant attribute of the wine in any case...

Did I know what he meant? Not telling you...