Odour or Smell?

[Rakesh]

Hi,

On my recent visit to a shopping mall with my wife, I was looking for some scented candles. On checking a few candles, I asked an attendent "I hope it's odour is good?". He look confused, my wife interrupted by asking him "Hope it smells good?". The attendent nodded.

Later my wife told me that I used wrong word "odour" instead of smell. I just want to get confirmation whether I was really wrong by using the word odour? Is it only used to describe bad smell?

[Rusty]

Hi,

On my recent visit to a shopping mall with my wife, I was looking for some scented candles. On checking a few candles, I asked an attendent "I hope it's odour is good?". He look confused, my wife interrupted by asking him "Hope it smells good?". The attendent nodded.

Later my wife told me that I used wrong word "odour" instead of smell. I just want to get confirmation whether I was really wrong by using the word odour? Is it only used to describe bad smell?

A better word would have been fragrance or scent. Odour usually means an unpleasant smell: the odour of a wet pet, a damp cellar, something that has been in the refrigerator too long. The word smell can also mean something bad: Something in this refrigerator smells!