Crocodile tears (or superficial sympathy) are a false or insincere display of emotion such as a hypocrite crying fake tears of grief. The phrase gives its name to crocodile tears syndrome, an uncommon consequence of recovery from Bell's palsy where faulty regeneration of the facial nerve causes sufferers to shed tears while eating.

The expression comes from an ancient anecdote that crocodiles weep in order to lure their prey, or that they cry for the victims they are eating. The earliest known version of the anecdote is found in Bibliotheca by Photios , then in a number of 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.

An alternate explanation for the expression's origin is that crocodile tears cannot be authentic because crocodiles cannot cry; they lack tear ducts. Yet this is a myth: Crocodiles possess lacrimal glands which secrete a proteinaceous fluid, just like in humans, though tears will only be visible after a crocodile is out of the water for a prolonged period of time, and the eyes begin to dry out. However, while crocodiles can and do generate tears, they do not actually cry.

Norman Gary Finkelstein (born December 8, 1953) is an American political scientist, activist and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust, an interest motivated by the experiences of his parents who are Jewish Holocaust survivors. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and received his Ph.D in Political Science from Princeton University. He has held faculty positions at Brooklyn College, Rutgers University, Hunter College, New York University, and, most recently, DePaul University, where he was an assistant professor from 2001 to 2007.

In 2007, after a highly publicized row between Finkelstein and a notable opponent of his, Alan Dershowitz, Finkelstein's tenure bid at DePaul was denied. Finkelstein was placed on administrative leave for the 2007–2008 academic year, and on September 5, 2007, he announced his resignation after coming to a settlement with the university on generally undisclosed terms. An official statement from DePaul strongly defended the decision to deny Finkelstein tenure, stated that outside influence played no role in the decision, and praised Finkelstein "as a prolific scholar and outstanding teacher."

William "Billy" Woods (born 24 October 1973 in Cork) is an Irish former professional football player. He is now the First Team Coach with Cork City.

Woods played all his schoolboy football with Midleton before spending two and a half years at Coventry City. He joined Cork City in 1993 and made his debut in October, playing under manager Damien Richardson during his first stint as manager when City played in Bishopstown.

He joined Tranmere Rovers in July 1995 [1]. After plying his trade there he returned to Ireland and signed for Portadown F.C. for one season in 1997.

Woods signed for Shamrock Rovers in 1998 in time to make his debut away to Altay S.K. in the UEFA Intertoto-Cup on 21 June. He made two appearances for the Hoops in Europe.

A few weeks later he won a FAI Super Cup medal.

In the 1999-00 season he was the club's joint-top goalscorer and even appeared in goal on one occasion.[2]. Woods scored a very memorable goal in the FAI Cup quarter final replay in 2001 [3]. His last game for the club was against Galway United on 31 March 2002.