hyperlinks - Styling labels as links to "trick" users into hovering over it?

The title alone would probably result in a chanting "NO!" as the popular answer, but please let me elaborate.

Background

We have a table of items that represent something. Each item can hold one to five attributes. A column in the table displays how many attributes each item has. This column consists of a cell for each item, containing a link-styled label saying 1, 2, 3..., depending on how many attributes it has. If the user hovers over the cell, a tooltip will appear displaying a text with the ID's of the attributes contained in this item.

Problem

The label, styled as a link, is not clickable as it ignores any click input. The reason for its appearance as a link is to attract the user to it, potentially leading to the user thinking "Hey, I have something here". They might hover over it, perhaps try to click it, and will be shown the tooltip.

I'm not really sure how else to communicate affordance for a tooltip.

Question

Would this be considered good UX? You could argue that the user is being fooled, but is the gain enough to justify that?

Own opinions are OK but I would prefer factual evidence strengthening your case.

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EDIT : I guess a side question here is whether it's OK to have a tooltip for something that isn't an action but a display of data instead?

Answer

I would suggest using the dotted underline approach for abbreviation/acronyms. This is good way to let the user know that if they hover/click SSN it means Social Security Number. For more descriptive items like contextual inline help, us an information icon of "i" or a "?" icon for added assistance. The javascript/jQuery plugin I use is qTip².