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Crocodile tears (or superficial sympathy) are a false, insincere display of emotion such as a hypocrite crying fake tears of grief. The phrase derives from an ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears while consuming their victims. While crocodiles do have tear ducts, they weep to lubricate their eyes, typically when they have been out of water for a long time and their eyes begin to dry out. However, there is evidence that this can also be triggered by feeding. Bogorad's syndrome is a condition which causes sufferers to shed tears while consuming food, and so has been labelled "crocodile tears syndrome" with reference to the legend. == History and usage == The expression comes from an ancient anecdote that crocodiles weep for the victims they are eating. A collection of proverbs attributed to Plutarch suggests that the phrase "crocodile tears" was well known in antiquity: comparing the crocodile's behaviour to people who desire or cause the death of someone, but then publicly lament for them.〔Arnaud Zucker (ed), ''Physiologos: le bestiaire des bestiaires'', Jérôme Millon, 2004, p.300.〕 The story is given a Christian gloss in the ''Bibliotheca'' by early medieval theologian Photios. Photios uses the story to illustrate the Christian concept of repentance.〔 The story is repeated in bestiaries such as ''De bestiis et aliis rebus''. This tale was first spread widely in English in the stories of the travels of Sir John Mandeville in the 14th century. A later writer, Edward Topsell provided a different explanation for the tears, saying "There are not many brute beasts that can weep, but such is the nature of the crocodile that, to get a man within his danger, he will sob, sigh, and weep as though he were in extremity, but suddenly he destroyeth him."〔Sax, Boria, ''The Mythical Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Animals in World Myth, Legend, and Lierature, ABC-CLIO, 2001, p.70.〕 In this version the crocodile pretends to be in distress in order to lure prey into a false sense of security. However, Topsell also refers to the older story that crocodiles wept during and after eating a man, repeating the standard Christian moral that this signified a kind of fake repentance like Judas weeping after betraying Jesus.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Crocodile tears」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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