From akriman@darwin.helios.nd.edu Mon Sep 4 02:22:21 2000 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.05/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id CAA151528 for ; Mon, 4 Sep 2000 02:22:20 -0700 Received: from mailspool.helios.nd.edu (mailspool.helios.nd.edu [129.74.250.7]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id CAA17850 for ; Mon, 4 Sep 2000 02:22:20 -0700 Received: from darwin.helios.nd.edu (darwin.helios.nd.edu [129.74.250.114]) by mailspool.helios.nd.edu (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id EAA25460 for ; Mon, 4 Sep 2000 04:22:15 -0500 (EST) Received: (from akriman@localhost) by darwin.helios.nd.edu (8.10.1/8.10.1/ND-cluster) id e849MGO02492 for classics@u.washington.edu; Mon, 4 Sep 2000 04:22:16 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2000 04:22:16 -0500 (EST) From: Alfred M Kriman Message-Id: <200009040922.e849MGO02492@darwin.helios.nd.edu> To: classics@u.washington.edu Subject: crocodile tears Last August 12, Diana Wright posted > This has been asked here before, hasn't it -- where does "crocodile > tears" come from? Trish Winston helpfully scavenged the archives and retrieved some information from the second posting of that earlier thread. There's more to be mined there. See postings whose titles include "Crocodile tears" or "reptilian waterworks" early in December 1996 -- gopher://140.142.56.13/1m/public/classics/classics.log9612b I have not seen what seems to me an obvious suggestion: of all hunters of large prey, the crocodiles and alligators are unusually adapted to stalk land prey effectively by hiding in the water with only their eyes protruding above the surface. This makes even the mental image of the crocodile's eyes prominent. Without looking too closely and unsafely, one might guess that the crocodile's eyes are moist, possibly even appearing tearful, a kind of parody of sympathy for the target of its gaze. There's a bit on croc lachrymal glands at http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/brittoncrocs/cbd-faq-q6.htm It appears (no surprise) that when a croc is in the water, its eyes are washed by the water around it. .