Which do you say? Are they interchangeable to you?

Personally, I cry and so do my characters. Weeping is something that wounds do. If a character does weep, it seems to me somehow...unaffecting. It's too posh a word for blubbing.

But that's just me. What do you think?

Yvonne

I use weep when I'm intentionally trying to be more poetic, but cry or sob for any other reason. Weep, to me, just doesn't sound like something a normal person would say anymore, so it really sticks out when I read it.

"Jesus wept."

I always thought those words were so powerful.

c.

I'm with Aria. I don't use weep very often. I will now and then, though, for added effect.

LabRat

Crying is what you do when you're a little unhappy, somewhat upset, very happy, have something in your eye, or something like that.

Weeping is what you do when life has just hit you with a major WHAM and you don't know how to handle it. On very rare occasions, when you're really happy and perhaps extremely relieved, you might also weep.

I've cried plenty of times in my life, but I don't think I've wept on more than a handful of occasions.

Paul

Yvonne: To me, weeping is soft and quiet, filled with hopelessnes. Crying is torn from the heart and passionate. At least that's how I would use those words.

Jude

I'm with Jude. To me weeping is soft and quite. More of something you do when you are feeling another's pain. Crying is more intense and can build to sobbing. It is more gut wrenching emotional - personal.

Jane Bennet (from Pride and Prejudice) would weep. So I guess that I would use "weep" for someone who is refined and gentle, and in a more old-fashioned setting.

gerry (who is ripping her hair out because she's suffering from a loss of word moment)

Yes, I agree with Paul and Jude, too. Several times, I've used weep instead of cry because cry just doesn't seem 'big' enough a word to describe a deep emotional response. Not weighty enough.

So, yes, I'd say I probably use weep instead of cry in the circumstances they describe, also.

LabRat

And all this time I thought weeping was a synonym for whining...

/me takes mental notes of this thread.

See ya,
AnnaBtG.