Crocodile tears is an insincere or hypocritical display of grief or remorse; pretending to be upset or sorrowful.
Origin and Etymology of ‘Crocodile Tears’
The idiom crocodile tears dates back over eight centuries to ancient and medieval lore, based on the persistent myth that crocodiles sob and weep insincerely while devouring their human prey.
Medieval Bestiaries and the 13th-Century Myth
In medieval Europe, natural history was often blended with moral folklore in popular illustrated manuscripts known as bestiaries. As early as the 13th century, French monastic writings described crocodiles as deceitful predators that wept over victims before swallowing them.
By the 14th century, the knight Sir John Mandeville popularized the belief in English with his widely read travel account, Mandeville’s Travels (c. 1357), recording: “In many places of Inde… be many cockodrills… These serpents slay men, and they eat them weeping.”
16th-Century Print and Shakespeare’s Popularization
The exact phrase entering general English literature was accelerated by 16th-century writers and playwrights who used the beast as a metaphor for hypocrisy, fake repentance, and emotional manipulation:
- Edmund Grindal (1563): One of the earliest printed records appears in a letter by Archbishop Edmund Grindal, warning against counterfeit sorrow: “I begin to fear, lest his humility in words be a counterfeit humility, and his tears, crocodile tears.”
- William Shakespeare (c. 1603): Shakespeare made frequent use of the metaphor. In Othello (Act IV, Scene 1), the consumed protagonist rails against his wife’s perceived infidelity: “If that the earth could teem with woman’s tears, / Each drop she falls would prove a crocodile.” He similarly referenced the deceptive beast in 2 Henry VI.
What Science Actually Says: Do Crocodiles Really Cry?
While the emotional aspect of the idiom is pure fable, real crocodiles do actually produce tears while feeding on land.
Zoological studies (including a landmark 2007 study by the University of Florida) confirmed that as crocodilians aggressively chew, air hissed through their sinuses forces fluid out of their lacrimal (tear) glands. This involuntary physiological reflex lubricates and cleans their eyes during feeding, meaning their “tears” are a practical physical feature rather than emotional.
Pop Culture and Media Citations
In television and film, writers frequently use “crocodile tears” during dramatic confrontations when a character sees through an opponent’s manipulative display of grief or remorse.
- The Deceptive Public Apology: In the crime drama The Sopranos, mob figures frequently mock rivals who put on performative, exaggerated displays of grief for media cameras or law enforcement, dismissing their sorrow as insincere “crocodile tears.”
- The Classic Shakespearean Betrayal: In film adaptations of Shakespeare’s Othello, Othello rejects Desdemona’s genuine weeping, mistakenly dismissing her sorrow as “crocodile tears” designed to mask betrayal.
- The Sarcastic Rejection: In the classic film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), tense arguments between Blanche and Stanley hinge on accusations of performative, theatrical crying meant to manipulate those around them.
Video Presentation
Sentence Examples
“Her courtroom performance was convincing to the jury, especially the crocodile tears over her husband’s death, but the evidence that followed was unassailable.”
“I’ve had enough of your crocodile tears,” said Tom. “I know you don’t really care about our father.”
“Nobody believes your crocodile tears over Peter’s leaving. We know you’ve wanted his job for years.”