I'm not really sure why you wish to avoid hover so badly: consider the following script
$(function(){
$('*').hover(function(){
$(this).data('hover',1); //store in that element that the mouse is over it
},
function(){
$(this).data('hover',0); //store in that element that the mouse is no longer over it
});
window.isHovering = function (selector) {
return $(selector).data('hover')?true:false; //check element for hover property
}
});
Basically the idea is that you use hover to set a flag on the element that the mouse is over it/no longer over it. And then you write a function that checks for that flag.