tear up: to cry a little bit; to become weepy
insincere: fake; not truthful
shed: to drop or remove something, such as a layer of skin or a tear
remorseful: full of guilt
sympathy: a feeling of sadness for another person’s loss
paralysis: the inability to move an area of the body
Crocodiles Tear Up While Eating
The expression “to cry crocodile tears” means to cry insincerely. Children are often accused of shedding crocodile tears in order to get attention. The expression “crocodile tears” goes back as far as the 1400s. It come from a myth that crocodiles pretend to be remorseful after killing theirprey. While scientists don’t believe that crocodiles are capable of sympathy, crocodiles do tend to shed tears while eating. This is likely a physical response that goes along with their tendency to blow out air as they eat. Humans who suffer from a rare facial paralysis sometimes exhibit a similar physical response. When they taste or eat food, they start to cry.
