The smell of man-KY, man-of-Kentucky, of Kentucky men. (Alleged.) Possibly of those from the Outer Bluegrass Region, above the Knobs, whatever that means. It probably refers to one who doesn't bathe, or hasn't bathed, even though he (allegedly) knows how.
Manky is like funky without the panache or the gold chains, and rating higher on the Stink-O-Meter.
Manky might be like the odor of polyester underwear that has been driven beyond its design limits, but worse. Nasty, wet, or soggy is used sometimes, though it seems to fall short of that gaping, horrific, vertigo-inducing malevolence that we are trying to express. Unpleasantly dirty and disgusting, as it is sometimes described, makes manky sound all too much like a nearly harmless something you could encounter under your maiden aunt's sofa. Possibly, because you don't really know how dark and mildewed her secrets are, do you?
So that could be right. But think, if you have to think of something, of repulsive mustiness.
Think of over-filled diapers, though not in your lap necessarily, or open before you. Near though, too near, near enough so you can think of nothing else, and then imagine yourself being totally played out, blind to the edge of death with weary fatigue, immersed in a cloud of this thick, fetid, creeping stench while trying to eat so you can simply stay alive until morning, so you can go on, and then realize that the mank is you, and your clothes, and you have to sleep in these clothes, and this skin, somehow, and live until dawn, and then go on for another full day, and then another. This is the joy of backpacking.
Welcome aboard.
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Me? Hoping never to fill another diaper.