“The Boy Who Cried ‘Wolf’”

Cultural  

1. One of Aesop's fables. A young shepherd would trick his fellow villagers by shouting for help, pretending that wolves were attacking his sheep. Several times the villagers rushed to his aid, only to find the shepherd laughing at them. One day, some wolves actually came. The shepherd cried for help, but the villagers, who had grown tired of his pranks, ignored him, and the wolves devoured his sheep.

---

Discover More

To “cry wolf” means to issue a false alarm.

Example Sentences

They could and should have had a penalty, Joselu going down after his shirt was pulled, but maybe Joselu was seen as the boy who cried wolf at that point.

From BBC

Our myths about wolves — Little Red Riding Hood, the boy who cried wolf — are stories of fear and warning.

From Washington Post

“I don’t think people are moving here or more attracted to this area than they were before because this is coming, because, like I said, you want to talk about the boy who cried wolf too many times,” Heidmann said.

From Washington Post

At some point, people stop believing the boy who cried wolf.

From Salon

“In retrospect I felt I was one of the villagers in the boy who cried wolf story,” said Ben Inker, Head of Asset Allocation at investment firm GMO.

From Reuters