# A word I simply don't recall hearing - Limerence **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 4, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821 "2016-12-04T15:26:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/1 "2016-12-04T15:26:16Z")
\*\*Limerence \*\*- basically a feeling of infatuated obsession. Came across it in this Sunday’s NYTimes Modern Love column. Don’t recall ever hearing it or reading it. Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/2 "2016-12-04T15:30:12Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > \*\*Limerence \*\*- basically a feeling of infatuated obsession. > > Came across it in this Sunday’s NYTimes Modern Love column. Don’t recall ever hearing it or reading it. Interesting. Did a search. It’s been used in 25 threads. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/3 "2016-12-04T15:38:18Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Did a search. It’s been used in 25 threads. > > 😃 Of course, it stands to reason. Perhaps I should change my username 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/4 "2016-12-04T15:51:41Z")
There’s a book about it. Came out in 1979. [Love and Limerence](https://smile.amazon.com/Love-Limerence-Experience-Being/dp/0812862864/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480866332&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=love+and+lilmerence) From an amazon reader review: > [@](#): > > I purchased Dorothy Tennov’s book thirty years ago while studying at SUNY Stony Brook. Her book identifies two kinds of lovers; those who love another person and those who experience 'being in love" with another. The latter she termed limerence as there was no term in English for that pattern of loving experience. > … > > Limerent purchasers of Tennov’s book will discover they are not alone and that the heightened emotions, bordering emotional suffering, is shared by limerent others. > … > > Limerent human beings should develop a hardened emotional resilience and unrelenting will that will allow him/her to walk away from unrequited love. Limerence can be devastating when the person one is limerent about falls of his/her pedestal into someone else’s bed. In that case, don’t waste time screaming and shouting, crying on your girlfriend’s couch or feeling miserable. Separate yourself from the individual physically and gradually the emotional fire will ebb as well. > … Hmmm… thanks for this timely post. I read this book when it came out, but I think I need to read it again… ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/5 "2016-12-04T15:57:33Z")
I bet you’ll hear it two more times before the end of the week. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/6 "2016-12-04T16:36:24Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I bet you’ll hear it two more times before the end of the week. At breakfast tomorrow, the word will most likely appear somewhere on your cereal box. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/7 "2016-12-04T20:25:31Z")
Looking at the etymology, the base word is listed as an arbitrary syllable. So the author didn’t even try the time honored route of Latin or Greek origins? Just made it up and it doesn’t mean anything or sound like anything pertinent? Man I hate that. A word is supposed to mean something, I’m pretty pretisentially sure Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/8 "2016-12-04T20:40:59Z")
Sounds like a cromulent word to me. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/9 "2016-12-04T21:05:38Z")
Thank you for my word of the day. I’d never heard it! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/10 "2016-12-04T22:38:19Z")
I’ve done crosswords for … a lot of years. I still come across new-to-me words fairly often. Since these are random occurences (I think), they seem to cluster more than you would naively expect. So a long time with no new ones then 2 or 3 close together. Not only is “limerence”\* new to me, it’s both nice sounding and has a good meaning. - And it’s not in my browser’s spellcheck. Then again, it doesn’t have USB and tons of common computer terms…:smack: ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/11 "2016-12-04T23:50:31Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I bet you’ll hear it two more times before the end of the week. And speaking of words, there is a word for that experience (suddenly encountering a word/concept you’d never known about before several times in quick succession). I heard it once, said “damn, that’s a useful word” and promptly forgot it. Alas, I did not experience whatever-it’s-called with that word, so it is now lost to me. Does anyone else know it? I promise that if you tell me, I’ll remember it this time. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/12 "2016-12-05T00:08:01Z")
I had a girlfriend in HS who used that word describing her attraction to me. There were other words when she dumped me. Edit: This was in 1973. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/13 "2016-12-05T00:41:30Z")
[They Might Be Giants: Contracoup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3rQRREIpCo) It uses the word “limerent” but close enough. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/14 "2016-12-05T02:05:13Z")
Sounds a little like an Irish version of Liberace. This comes on the heels of my learning that “khatru” is a word that prog rock band Yes apparently made up for the title of “Siberian Khatru”, the last song on the “Close to the Edge” album. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/15 "2016-12-05T03:55:04Z")
Dude, Thursday I watched an old (from September) episode of a show called “Adam Ruins Everything” and this word was in that show and _I_ had never heard of it either! And now here you are making a thread about it!! What’s the word for when you learn a new word and then someone posts a SDMB thread about it after they learn the word from a different source? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/16 "2016-12-05T17:38:59Z")
Never heard or read it before this thread. I can understand why. 1. It really adds very little to the language that “infatuation” doesn’t. 2. It’s a shitty sounding word. If you asked 100 well read English-speaking people who hadn’t encountered the word yet (like me) what they guessed “limerence” meant, I bet not a single one would guess “infatuation.” It doesn’t sound like it would mean that. 3. The word was just invented in 1979 (and by its inventor’s admission, has no etymological rationale behind it, hence #2 above) so it has little history or literary reference to breathe air into it. Words sometimes get into vogue again. This one won’t last. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/17 "2016-12-05T18:57:47Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > And speaking of words, there is a word for that experience (suddenly encountering a word/concept you’d never known about before several times in quick succession). > > I heard it once, said “damn, that’s a useful word” and promptly forgot it. Alas, I did not experience whatever-it’s-called with that word, so it is now lost to me. Does anyone else know it? I promise that if you tell me, I’ll remember it this time. The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/18 "2016-12-05T19:12:27Z")
It’s Reince Priebus’s full name. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/19 "2016-12-05T19:27:42Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > What’s the word for when you learn a new word and then someone posts a SDMB thread about it after they learn the word from a different source? Cecilesia. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821/20 "2016-12-05T20:32:30Z")
To me, the word has a creepier edge to it than “infatuation”. Limerence seems like something a stalker would have toward his or her object of unwilling affection. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-word-i-simply-dont-recall-hearing-limerence/773821.md?page=2)