Talk:Tears

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Contents 1 Comments 2 spelling 3 Helpful 4 physiology 5 sources 6 Yawning tears 7 In other species 8 Proposed move 9 Salinity 10 Purpose of crying 11 Question 12 Sniffling 13 This is a substandard article 14 Crying tone 15 Big words and readbility

[edit] Comments

The rock band Tool should've been mentioned. At least in the "see also"-part. They claim they chose their name because they wanted their music to be a tool in crying as a way to evolve as a human. They have several referances to lachrymololgy.

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what are these other cultures where men are more acce[ted for crying than women

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>> They are filled with hormones, and it now believed tears are a method of expelling excess hormones from the body.

I have softened this down because as far as I know it is no more than a conjecture suggested by William Frey's research, the leap to a factoid was made by the trivia culture. Femto 14:32, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

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Removed the disambiguation because it only needs to be used if there is a risk of confusion between topics. It is reasonably clear that a page named tears is about crying, not about "two or more lacerations". See Wikipedia:Disambiguation. It would be tear that could be made a disambiguation page, but the verb to tear will never have its own encyclopedia entry, and there's no risk of confusion with laceration apart from the synonymous dictionary definition. Femto 16:30, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] spelling

I changed the spelling from "lachrymation" to "lacrimation" because this is by far the more common spelling. I see it was changed once before, but "lacrimation" is the spelling used by the medical community in the US.

Makes sense to me. Femto 15:17, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The Latin for "a tear" is correctly lacrima. The form lachryma is a spurious Greekifying which has been around a long time. Anthony Appleyard 06:18, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Helpful

This whole article about Human Tears and all the discussion were pretty helpful and benefitial information to human world. We hope that you continue the good work and keep writing and providing more on such useful scientific subjects.

[edit] physiology

I removed the claim that the lacrimal glands constrict. I could find no support for this. All the sources I consulted indicate that tears are the result of increased secretion, not a muscular constriction Osmodiar 15:56, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] sources

"It has been suggested from their stress hormone content that tears may be a method of expelling excess hormones from the body."

Please provide some published sources for this statement. --JWSchmidt 14:26, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

See above. Do a search on William Frey, if someone wants to add a reference. On the other hand I wouldn't mind either if the statement were removed, but didn't dare to do that when I first edited it. Femto 15:57, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

My search of the biomedical literature failed to find support for this idea: "a method of expelling excess hormones from the body." I suggest either removing the statement, saying that it not supported by any evidence, or provide a citation to the evidence. --JWSchmidt 00:36, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

I found nothing independent of Frey's claims. Unless there are others corroborating his assertions, I think the statement should simply be removed. Edwardian 03:00, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Yawning tears

Does anyone know anything about yawning tears? My girlfriend wants to know. She doesn't share my fascination with Wikipedia. --Yannick 04:16, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

-- I think some parts of the autonomic system is involved (parasym. and sym.), since there are both sympathetic & parasympathetic fibres through the lacrimal gland as opposed to information on the internet indicating that muscle contractions "squeeze" the lacrimal gland. Sorry, haven't found any conclusive information..=P Irisx 11:23, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] In other species

If anyone has any information about tears in the animal kingdom, it'd be good to see here. Like if only people have them, or only primates, or only mammals, or something to that effect. Mammals are mentioned a few times in reference to other aspects, but there ought to be at least a sentence or two specifically about what types of animals experience tears. --Mbarbier 20:49, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Salinity

I am looking for the salinity of tears. This information would be helpful.

[edit] Purpose of crying

Are there any viable theories or commonly agreed upon purposes for the act of crying available to anyone? 70.88.218.193 15:05, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question

Can you cry underwater? Can it be proved scientifically if so?

[edit] Sniffling

After people crying (especially children) what causes the uncontrollable sniffling? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.163.223.183 (talk) 04:34, 2 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] This is a substandard article

Searches for "crying", "sobbing", "weeping" etc. all redirect here, but this article covers the topic of emotional crying in only the most brief, cursory and superficial manner, and such information as exists is limited almost entirely to matters of physiology. Very, very poor indeed. I respectfully submit that redirecting those words to this article is inappropriate if we are not willing to cover the topic properly within.

[edit] Crying tone

Did you ever wonder why you hear coughs or breaks when someone cries. For example, waahhhhhhhhhh ahhaaaaah ahhaaaahhhh, etc. BuickCenturyDriver 11:06, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Big words and readbility

I have no idea what the following is saying:

"The limbic system is involved in production of basic emotional drives, such as anger, fear, etc. The limbic system also has a degree of control over the autonomic system. This is more specifically the hypothalamus. It is the parasympathetic system that controls the lacrimal glands. Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter specific to both the nicotinic and muscarinic receptors. It is when the receptors are activated that the lacrimal gland is stimulated to produce tears."

Keeping in mind that this is an encyclopedia for lay people, is there any way the above can be re-written so that mere mortals can understand it?--EveRickert 22:26, 27 February 2007 (UTC)