SMELLING OF ROSES

If you come up/out smelling of roses, you emerge from a difficult situation with your reputation intact. The full form of this expression is “fall in the shit and come up smelling of roses,” which clarifies its origin. [1] It may be connected with someone falling in a bed of roses fertilised with manure; while the manure may smell unpleasant, the roses smell beautiful. [2] The rather vulgar beginning phrase is now normally omitted.

This idiom has particular relevance to the current COVID-19 crisis, which has brought out both the best and the worst in different people. Many people will certainly emerge from this “smelling of roses;” sadly, others will not.

e.g. “They thought they could come up smelling of roses and still win the referendum.”

Roses are used in several other idioms to indicate something beneficial.

Something that is coming up roses is developing favourably.
This phrase is used in several songs, including this one from the musical “Gypsy”:

The phrase “bed of roses” is more frequently used in the negative to describe something that is (not) easy and pleasant.

e.g. “Gaga said that being famous is not the bed of roses that some may think it to be.”

[1] “smelling” In Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms, edited by Ayto, John, Oxford University Press, 2009.
[2] Cresswell, Julia. "smell" In The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, Oxford University Press, 2009.

Photo credit: Andreas Lischka

Updated Thursday 26 March 2020