Limn Words Shoppers Won’t Understand

On September 7, 2010, a front-page article in the Baltimore Sun carried the headline “Opposing votes limn difference in race.” Well, at least a few of the newspaper’s readers that day reacted as if they’d like to rip the editors limn from limn. Whoops, I mean limb from limb, which is pronounced the same way.
     As to the definition, limn shares its word root with illuminate and means to give clear, sharp detail. The headline meant that a set of opposing votes portrayed differences between the current electoral candidates in clear, sharp detail.
     But those upset readers of the headline didn’t know what “limn” meant. They were irritated at the Baltimore Sun for creating an unnecessary difficulty. One reader opined, “To put a word like ‘limn’ in the headline for the lead article on the front page of this newspaper seems to me to be unbelievably arrogant and patronizing. Could the headline writer not have fashioned a head around the word ‘illuminate,’ ‘delineate’ or ‘depict’? Perhaps then more readers would not only understand what the article is about but actually might want to read it.”
     Wrong on two counts. First, the Sun’s headline writer said he chose the word not to impress with his vocabulary, but because he needed a shorter word for “show” in a one-column space. Second, classic research by psychologist Edward Wheeler Scripture found that a bit of puzzlement in a headline—whether for a newspaper article or newspaper ad—increases interest in reading what follows. In an 1895 book, Dr. Scripture used his studies’ findings to even suggest putting commercial notices upside down in order to attract attention.
     Using a fancy word also can subtly add to your impression of distinctiveness or exclusivity in a positive way. A two-store California retailer calls themselves Limn to fit their merchandising of sharply designed high-end home furniture, lighting, and accessories.
     Now that you know what limn means, I can recommend to you that you limn for your special attention any words that your target audiences are likely not to understand correctly at first viewing or first hearing. Give each of those words clear, sharp detail as you create your marketing copy and selling scripts. Then decide for each of the words if it will arouse useful interest in your intended message or only create a distracting kerfuffle. Whoops, maybe I should say, instead, create a distracting fuss.

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