“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.

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

Example Sentences

But after facing decades of threats, there is also now "a sense of Beijing as the boy who cried wolf," says Wen-ti Sung, a political scientist with the Australian National University's Taiwan Center.

From BBC

If you suspect that Homeland Security is beginning to sound like the boy who cried wolf, DHS officials agree.

From Slate

“Nobody wants to be the boy who cried wolf,” he added.

From Los Angeles Times

What the boy who cried wolf couldn’t make work, this brain trust has somehow figured out.

From Slate

So many overlaps and overlays with Norman and the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” experience trying to get out and save the world with no one taking him seriously because he is the unexpected hero.

From Salon