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leave the impression the sky was going to fall

English translation: means "end of the world". they needed to make it look like they were going to annihilate the enemy

07:03 Aug 6, 2004
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
English term or phrase: leave the impression the sky was going to fall
¡°We said, ¡®The armed men ¡¯re lining up. They ¡®re coming in droves.¡¯¡± In truth it was a hoax. ¡°the only weapon we had,¡± He admitted, ¡°was to leave the impression the sky was going to fall.¡±
discourse
Selected answer:means "end of the world". they needed to make it look like they were going to annihilate the enemy
Explanation:
They had to pretend that they had something terrible in store for their enemy. In fact they had nothing, of course, but they knew they could make it look like they were going to totally destroy, annihilate the enemy in a horrific fashion.

The expression itself means smth like "the end of the world". Something that has been prognosticated and feared for ages, but has never happened. Used in everyday speech to refer to a terrible consequence of something (an action or an event).
Selected response from:

Mikhail Kropotov
Germany
Local time: 11:26
Grading comment
Thank you
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +10that something terrible was going to happen
David Russi
4 +2means "end of the world". they needed to make it look like they were going to annihilate the enemy
Mikhail Kropotov
4 +1It was hopeless
mcguegan
4As though a disaster was going to happen
humbird


  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +10
that something terrible was going to happen


Explanation:
that something terrible was going to happen



David Russi
United States
Local time: 03:26
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 44

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  humbird: Yes, you are right by itself. See my comment.
48 mins
agree  Armorel Young: a reference to various stories about the sky falling in see e.g. http://www.kidscookiemix.com/storytime/storyhenny.htm
49 mins
agree  Judith Platter
54 mins
agree  Ramesh Madhavan: Asterix??
1 hr
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou
1 hr
agree  Cilian O'Tuama: reminds me of Henny Penny
3 hrs
agree  Eva Karpouzi
3 hrs
agree  Rajan Chopra
3 hrs
agree  Jacqueline McKay (X)
5 hrs
agree  chica nueva: 'The sky is falling down, the sky is falling down.' from the story/fable Chicken Licken see http://www.alt.hist.no/fag/engelsk/en130-a/fairytales_rhymes... licken.doc Search on 'sky is falling down' for war refs.
17 hrs
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24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
It was hopeless


Explanation:
No hope anymore.

mcguegan
Local time: 11:26
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  humbird: Your are right, this is a situation in which all cards are used and nothing is left, but you should give more explanation to the asker what you mean by "It was hopeless".
24 mins
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
As though a disaster was going to happen


Explanation:
The overall meaning of your quote is, they (the speaker's side) had no forces to inflict damages against the enemy. They had no means to defend themselves, so all they could was put up a facade, in hope they could deceive the enemy.

humbird
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
means "end of the world". they needed to make it look like they were going to annihilate the enemy


Explanation:
They had to pretend that they had something terrible in store for their enemy. In fact they had nothing, of course, but they knew they could make it look like they were going to totally destroy, annihilate the enemy in a horrific fashion.

The expression itself means smth like "the end of the world". Something that has been prognosticated and feared for ages, but has never happened. Used in everyday speech to refer to a terrible consequence of something (an action or an event).

Mikhail Kropotov
Germany
Local time: 11:26
Works in field
Native speaker of: Russian
PRO pts in category: 64
Grading comment
Thank you

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ramesh Madhavan
25 mins
  -> thanks!
agree  Nanny Wintjens
9 hrs
  -> thanx!
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