Young Writers Society

You'd think there'd be an bloke sort of word for crying. "weep" and "tears" and all those other words sound way to girly.

*sighs*

This is what the thesaurus says:

Main Entry: weep
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: cry
Synonyms: bawl, bemoan, bewail, blub, blubber, boohoo, break down, complain, deplore, drip, grieve, howl, keen, lament, let go, mewl, moan, mourn, shed tears, snivel, sob, squall, ululate, wail, whimper, yowl

Sobbing is a word I've come to appreciate as a masculine event. There is a fundamental difference here: when a woman sobs, we see it as hysterical crying, throwing herself to the ground or wherever, heaving and convulsing; when a man sobs, it is either a very solemn, eloquent mourning or else a blind-rage sort of moaning.

At any rate, I don't think mourning is a masculine thing; weeping and such are very effeminate actions, associated greatly with emotional instabilities and lack of personal strength/resolve. All of these things have been attributed to Woman by the West, so I don't see a good way to masculinize the feminine par excellence.

None of them sound blokey to me.

Bawl - babyish
Bemoan - it sounds alien to me. So if you've ever got an alien crying I'd go with this one.
Bewail - much like wail. Childlike, maybe for whingy people too.
Blub - young boys or whales
Blubber - toddlers (deffinately a boy feel to it) and sea-life such as whales or seals
Boohoo - babyish
Break down - hmmm ... more blokey than anything else. For anyone
complain - anyone
deplore - anyone, but I don't think I'd use it too often
drip - sounds like a tap
greive - anyone
howl - animals or babies
keen - anyone, I suppose
lament - anyone, doesn't sound all that blokey though
let go - hmm ... possibly only use in situations involving the end in hanging on. Anyone.
mewl - baby animals, baby humans included
moan - anyone
shed tears - anyone
snivel - for use in occasions involving whinging and snot as well as tears.
sob - I dislike this word. It's just a weird thing I have about it. It doesn't sound like anything.
squall - baby birds
uluate - never hear it before. Sounds like something a great formless blob would do
wail - kind of childlike, see bewail
whimper - animals, children
yowl - cats and cat like animals.

Thankyou for reading the "weep" synonom section of El's Guide to How Words Sound.

And yes, it is a masculine character. At least, I would consider him masuline. He would be Sadie's father.

:)
Ah, I thought so, which is why I tried to explain (whether I succeeded or not) that there are 'sighs' of grieving besides the obvious.

However, are you trying to make Sadie's father physically cry?

Ah! I was about to post this! I have a male character who cries. I'm wondering how to do it. He's not crying alone either. He's being watched. I'm trying to decide what words to use. This is harder than it sounds.

I'm one of those people who gets really ashamed when they cry. I turn my head, I wipe the tears away, I try to pretend I'm fine, I make an excuse to leave. The only problem is that I cry a lot. I hate crying because I like to appear strong or in control. For me tears feel like a childish or weak thing for me. I also hate it when I cry out loud. That usually only happens when I'm grieving or I'm extremely apologetic or regretful. Silent tears are usually out of anger or shame and rarely in happiness or peace.

Haley's guide to her own crying:

Lets see... grievious crying: I don't care who I'm around, I'll start crying. It's easier to cry when someone comforts me. In fact, I might start crying more. Watching other people cry with me makes me cry more. The crying usually doesn't last very long, but its often very hard, with spastic breathing, a tight throat, a sore chest and deep moans and sobs.

Apologetic crying: Another moment of weaknes. Usually characterized by actions of surrender or shame such as a bowed head or bended knees.

Angry crying (at myself): Probably the most common form or me. Usually silent. Sometimes I'll hit myself in the head with my fist. I often put myself down outloud.

Angry crying (at others): Silent tears. A bitter tone when I speak. Sarcasm. Folded arms. Often have the urge to hit/smash/beat something. I'll sometimes scream (into a pillow or under my breathe).

Happy/peaceful crying: Really, really, really rare. Usually silent. Small smile. Sometimes laughter. Can't really elaborate since this doesn't happen often for me.

Come on, some guy out there, be brave! Tell us when you cry, how you cry, how you cry around others... etc.

Unfortunately, there is no real good way to go about describing a 'masculine' cry. Rather than focus on emotion, spend time with the physical act of crying--as men are, in general, more physical creatures. Talk about the tight throat and chest, the burning eyes, the way your ears heat up when you are trying to conceal emotions, the heat of the tears. Words like 'painful' and 'scorching' come to mind.

I'd go along with what Dono and Gal are saying. Don't focus so much on the word, and rather just describe the physical act. Usually for me, when I cry, its usually at things like funerals and stuff, and rarely, if ever do I cry out loud. Its usually, silent, or accompanied by very quiet heaving of the chest and sniffling. I always try to fight em back, but they seem to come anyway, so they just sort of, fall down my face, silently. Sometimes I wipe them away, sometimes not.

I've never mastered the fine art of having guy characters cry convincingly, which is probably not good, since the novel I'm writing is an extremely emotional one and the protagonist happens to be a man.

The best I can ever do is describe the poor guy overcome with emotion and maybe his eyes get a little wet or something, but my character always ends up running his hand over his face or covering it before turning away to regain his composure. He is emotional. He struggles with himself. He is on the verge of crying. Ultimately, he does not cry. This is annoying, but my subconscious won't let me do it any other way.

My Dad doesn't ever cry, preferring to remain the strength for the family and neither does my brother, so I have absolutely no reference point from which to describe this.

I'm a girl and apparently girls cry all the time but my little hydro-dramas probably can not just up and be applied to a thirty year old guy. If you see my point. Though in all seriousness, I don't cry that often because I don't like how it feels. I once put my hand through a glass door and cut up my arm and was furious with myself afterwards because I cried and it made me feel like I wasn't in control of myself. Endurance is put on a high pedestal between my borther and myself so I really can't use my experiences as a good platofrm from which to describe weeping. (And I use the term loosely, of course).

-Plus, I don't see how anyone can cry daintily. I've seen the most beautiful, elegant women cry and when they do they look anything but dainty. That's another problem with Tolstoy. When his women characters cry they do it in such a way so as not to (a) make them red in the face, (b) make their hair ever get stringy, as mine invariabley does after I cry, and (c) make them ever look anything but beautiful with the glistening moisture on their lovely eyes as they gaze adoringly up at....

Okay, I'll stop there, but this whole crying thing is irritating me. My protagonist won't cry and I'm ticked at him. _/)

Hmmm... you reminded me of something.

My dad never cries, or at least I thought he never cried. (Now that I think of this, it sounds silly, but bear with me a little bit.) One day, he was telling a story about his dog, Tiger. Tiger was his dog. When he was just a little toddler, poking around, Tiger was there. She was a little terrier, hardly big at all, and a little bit odd (as all terriers are) but she was fun to play around with.

There were several times Tiger got Dad into some trouble. Once, Tiger met this German Shepherd. Unlike my dog (who is a nice German Shepherd) this dog was vicious and was about to attack Tiger. Dad (he was a little younger than me) raced to get his dad's .22 pistol. Then, slowly, the vicious dog retreated. Dad never had to shoot.

He lived in Arizona when he was younger, and that means he lived where cactus runs rampant. Frequently, Tiger would get herself hurt by flicking the cactus onto herself. Not fun. Still, Dad learned how to take each spine out (something which was handy when I got a bunch of them stuck in my leg later. ) And Tiger trusted him.

But dogs eventually get old, and that's what happened. When Dad was about my age now (wow... that's kind of hard to think of) Tiger was nearly twenty years old and definitely feeling old age. She was blind, she could barely walk, and Dad would take care of her, as much as he could. Still, one day he took her to the vet, intending to see if they could help her, just a little bit more. The answer? No. So he left Tiger with the vet, went home, and cried his eyes out.

That's kind of sweet. I'm sure my dad cried plenty of times as a kid but I've only ever seen him cry once or twice and he does it very discreetly, of course. _/)

I think I've seen my dad cry three or four times, maybe.

The time that sticks out most in my mind was when I was in fourth grade. My parents were separated, and me and my three sisters were riding in the car with my dad, spending some time with him, since we lived with our mom then. The Backstreet Boys' song I Want It That Way came on the radio, and since it was '99 and really popular, my sisters and I were all singing along. At one point during the song we got quiet, just enjoying each others company and the fact that we were driving with our dad, when suddenly he broke down crying. He pulled off the road and sat in the driver's seat, sobbing.

My sisters and I all stared at each other in confusion for a moment, then our oldest sister reached over and turned off the radio. The car was dead silent, except for my dad, who was choking on his sobs. I don't think I'd ever seen him so miserable. After a minute he apologized to us, turned the radio back on and went on driving. I couldn't listen to the song for three years without crying.

It was horrible to me, because my dad has always been (and is still) such a strong influence in my life, and to see him lose control like that made him human as nothing before ever had. I don't remember ever seeing him really grieve my mom leaving and having his girls taken from him, so it shook me up quite a bit. Guys crying always upsets me more than girls crying.

Guys crying always upset me more than girls crying.

I think I know what you mean. Girls just seem like they can cry all the time, no big deal, it's just something girls do - but you can tell the problem's more serious/emotional when a guy breaks down. You feel more sorry for men because you can tell they don't want to cry and they just can't help it.

Areida wrote: Guys crying always upsets me more than girls crying.

Yeah, I know what you mean too. This year for my eighth grade trip we went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC and my friends and I were all crying together. One of my friends is so much like a big brother to me that seeing him that sad was really weird. I wanted to comfort him or say something but I didn't really know what.

Yeah, I was at that museum, too.

Want something heartbreaking about the Holocaust, watch Schindler's List.