Today's phrase is:
"to make oneself smell like roses"
What does it mean?
Now, when I first encountered that phrase, it was used to describe the fact that some people will talk bad about others while only giving away (true or false) good information about themselves. Thus, they make themselves seem good, innocent and often the poor victim while others are the bad guys.
Where does it come from?
Ok, I haven't had luck with finding its origins but I've come up with related phrases: "come out smelling like a rose" which means that you come out of a situation successful and often better than others, and "come up smelling like a rose" which means that you manage to come out looking good after a difficult or nasty affair.
My two cents:
I guess the origin is simply that a rose is seen as something which always smells pleasant so if someone smells like a rose after a nasty situation (maybe originally some situation which involved real nasty smells), he is still pleasant, agreeable. And, if all the others smell nastily afterwards, he sure was the most successful (at least in keeping the nasty smells away from him).
Language ... the bridge of communication, the magic creator of worlds, the brush and paint of authors. Language is magic. It gives us power. It is something you just have to love.
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