Last time I looked at the wiki page I could have sworn there was a theory about smoke getting in the eyes of early hom sap at its funeral pyres. :roll:

I think that it is a way in which emotions are expressed cathartically, like laughter. Children cry so much but people usually cry less when they adults and how much they cry varies from person to person. I wonder how much is about social learning and even the gain from crying from sadness being communicated to others in this way..Also, we could question whether men cry less, or i If there is any intrinsic difference between the pattern of crying it could point to the role of biology. Perhaps testosterone suppresses tears and turns tears to anger. However, it may partly be about stereotypes and how women feel more able to cry openly while men are encouraged to hide their emotions.

Last time I looked at the wiki page I could have sworn there was a theory about smoke getting in the eyes of early hom sap at its funeral pyres. :roll: — bongo fury

That makes so much sense and you seem to know why. Can you expand and elaborate it so that we have a coherent theory for why we cry when we're down in the dumps?

I was intrigued but I can't see it now on wiki.

I was intrigued but I can't see it now on wiki. — bongo fury

Too bad. I wanna start a thread on it but let this one run it's course. If I can remember to that is. Until then :mask:

Last time I looked at the wiki page I could have sworn there was a theory about smoke getting in the eyes of early hom sap at its funeral pyres. — bongo fury

Could that be the reason we cry at funerals? Or is it just smoke of the crematory exhaust pipes, blowing the remnants of granny in our eyes?

It's googleable, and I don't see why it would deserve a different thread.

haha, the theory might have been short-lived on wiki because it was that daft :rofl: I dunno.

Btw, if it didn't go without saying, and I suppose it didn't,

Now, laughing friends deride
Tears, I cannot hide
Oh-oh-oh-oh
So, I smile and say
"When a lovely flame dies
Smoke gets in your eyes"

I.e. "smoke getting in your eyes" used to be a euphemism.

It's googleable, and I don't see why it would deserve a different thread. — bongo fury

You're right if the issue is only about why we cry but there's something much broader that I want to explore. It's old news as far as I can tell but still I haven't come across a thread specific to the matter that I want to examine.

The smoke theory is on the wiki page for "crying", not "tears"

:lol:

Appropiate emoticon! :cry: