In honor of Valentine's Day this week, we will devote our weekly theme to obscure words of sweet romantic love.

And I do mean obscure. Forgive me for not even attempting illustrative quotations this week.

cingulomania - a strong desire to hold a person in your arms

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cingulomania - a strong desire to hold a person in your arms

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I suffer from this whenever I am away from Amanda!

typhlobasia - kissing with the eyes closed

What a great word!

Since any real kissing should be done this way, then this is something that probably everyone succumbs to. Since it ends in "ia" is it a disease?

I disagree. There's nothing like a long passionate smooch with all four eyes open delving deeply into each other. (One pair, I mean, delving deeply into the other pair, not each eye delving into each of the other three. Love is cock-eyed but that would be overdoing it.)

I guess I'm just basically atyphlobasical.

Then again, ever kiss someone and catch them watching TV? A real morale booster, there! If it's "Masterpiece Theatre," the relationship may be salvagable. Of course, if it's "Gilligan's Island," you can pretty much consider yourself halfway out the door.

forepleasure – perhaps somewhat richer than foreplay, which usually refers to physical contacts, especially kissing and fondling. Forepleasure by no means excludes those, but it also includes such things as listening to music, reading poems or stories that stimulate affectionate responses, recalling earlier experiences, and even just quietly enjoying togetherness.

What a lovely concept. Special thanks to J.H. Hook, whose book The Grand Panjandrum I have quoted here.

Close your eyes and I'll kiss you,
Tomorrow I'll miss you

Ah, the Beatles!

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
Close your eyes and I'll kiss you,
Tomorrow I'll miss you

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Somehow, that sounds better than "Let's typhlobasiate".

Tinman

noeclexis - The practice of selecting a partner based on intellegence and character without regard for physical attractiveness

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Originally posted by wordcrafter:
_noeclexis_ - The practice of selecting a partner based on intellegence and character without regard for physical attractiveness

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This suggests a future wordcrafter theme to me - words that describe concepts that exist only in theory not in the real world.

Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum

Read all about my travels around the world here.

Speak only for your gender, my dear!

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
Speak only for your gender, my dear!

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Thank you for saying what was on my mind, Kalleh!

Kalleh, I trust that was not an aspersion upon my degree of physical attractiveness?

No, Shoo. It is just my theory that men care much more about the looks of women than women do about men. I might even go so far to say it is a fact (yes, Tinman, you will not agree, I know). Excellent data for the latter is to look at television programs (in the U.S.); the men are frequently quite out of shape, rather plain looking, beginning to age, etc. Women, on the other hand, are gorgeous, young, and with perfect figures.

sphallolalia - flirtatious talk that does not lead to amorous action

When I was a teenager and, like most young male teenagers, was spending a substantial amount of my time in trying to persuade teenage girls to share my bed (or probably the back seat of my car) we had a name for those girls who promised a great deal but delivered less than expected.

And it was not "Sphallolalia"!

Richard English

Hmmmm. It is probably the same unpostable word that American teenagers/men use!

limerance - the inital exhilarating rush of falling in love; the state of "being in love".

Limerance, unlike 'infatuation', does not carry the connotation of emotional immaturity.
In contrast to "loving someone", limerance implies obsessive thinking about the limerent object and acute longing for reciprocation.

Coined by Dorothy Tennov in her book Love and Limerance (1979; recently reprinted). It will be interesting to see if this word enters the vernacular.

Edited: You're right, CJ; I'd typoed.

[This message was edited by wordcrafter on Sun Feb 16th, 2003 at 8:06.]

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
...men care _much_ more about the looks of women than women do about men.

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In general, yes, but not universally. I have been noeclexotic most of my adult life. Some of the most gorgeous women I've ever been deeply in love with possessed great quantities of beauty that no camera could ever capture.


(My 555th post! I'm five sixths Satanic and rising!)

(Ever notice that our post totals are shown every time we contribute to this section but not in the others? No biggie, just an observation.)

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Originally posted by wordcrafter:
_Limerance,_ unlike 'infatuation', does not carry the connotation of emotional maturity.

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You're saying "infatuation" does carry the connotation of emotional maturity??

I don't think it is mere coincidence that the words "infatuation" and "fatuous" are related.

In honor of the day just passed, I submit the following:

Adultery is the application of democracy to love. H.L. Mencken

Kiss: A word invented by poets as a rhyme for "bliss." Ambrose Bierce

Marriage: A word that should be pronounced, "mirage." Herbert Spencer

Take it from me, marriage isn't a word - it's a sentence." King Vidor

Of the two lots, the woman's lot of perpetual motherhood, and the man's lot of perpetual babyhood, I prefer the man's.

George Bernard Shaw.

Basically my wife was immature. I'd be in the bath and she'd come in and sink my boats.

Woody Allen

And the oldest of the bunch: These impossible women! How they do get around us! The poet was right: can't live with them, or without them.

Aristophanes (Just for you, Muse! ;

CJ, no I have never noticed that the number of posts only show in this forum. Strange! And, noticing that now (for the first time), I have to congratulate Asa for reaching your 500th post!

As far as my comment about men preferring looks over women, I realize that it is a generalization, and those are dangerous. Of course, it's not always the case. I do think that men consider looks more than women do, though, when dating.

vernalagnia or vernorexia - a romantic mood brought on by spring (also known as Spring Fever)

PS: CJ noted my error in defining 'limerence', which has now been corrected.

So, if one is fortunate enough to be experiencing limerance (mature or otherwise), can one be said to be "limerant?" or perhaps "limerantic?" or even "limerable?"

This theme was posted 3 years ago, but I've always loved it.

Happy Valentine's Day, Wordcrafters!