The Word of the Day is 'Limerance'

[jeeshman]

Word of the Day - Limerance

While randomly surfing around Wikipedia (I'm strange, I know) I came across this term...

Limerance:  An involuntary state of mind which seems to result from a romantic attraction for another person combined with an overwhelming, obsessive need to have one's feelings reciprocated.

The term was invented by Prof. Dorothy

Comments

[zeghsy]

wow. way to make today suckier for me. hmph. this blows.

[jeeshman]

Yes! Damn unreciprocated love all the way to hellllllll!

What do you think of the theory that relationships where the man is limerant but the woman is not are more prone to failure? This seems wrong to me; I thought anthropologically speaking, males had a greater tendency to seek multiple partners. This would be curbed if the man was the limerant in the relationship.'

Wow. I am really not interested in working today!

[hebe6405]

That doesn't sound like enough terms to describe relationships... it's an oversimplification of a complex construction. Limerance sounds like this professor was trying to come up with a new word to get her name in the dictionary and so she would redefine "crush" and add a bit of shrink-talk to make it sound official.

I think you make a good point with two limerants being able to cancel out the destructive forces of limerancy... but, all this defining is taking the human element out of the actual relationship, so I don't see a way anything could be accurately predicted... That professor probably had issues with her dad... (freud)

[jeeshman]

You make a lot of good points. Especially the whole Dad thing. :P

What initially got my attention was the Prof's discussion of fantasy and how unlike (for example) sexual fantasies, it has to be realistic to be enjoyable to the limerant (or "person with crush" or however you want to describe him/her). This hit home for me when it occurred to me that my "Math Girl" fantasies differed significantly in tone and plot from other fantasies of the time, in that they were either highly realistic or highly tragic, or both.

One could ask the question without the shrink-talk, and it would still make for an interesting discussion IMO: Ever felt romantically attracted to someone, and absolutely *needed* that feeling to be reciprocated to the point of obsession?

Anyhoo. Gotta go to dance lessons....