Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[faith2k]

What does it mean by "axe has to fall" in the following context? Is there a story behind this expression?

"When the axe has to fall, I'm the one who has to do it"

Thank you, teaches!

[CP]

Imagine the bad old days, when the person sentenced to death had to kneel down with his head on a chopping block, and the executioner carried out the death sentence by bringing his huge axe down on the condemned man's neck.

The image is vivid, and it gives birth to such expressions as "waiting for the axe to fall" (anticipating the inevitable bad outcome) and "heads will roll" (people will pay a heavy price for their mistakes or sins).

Your expression is from the point of view of the executioner, the one who does the dirty work. When the unpleasant task has to be performed, I will be the one who does it.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[pugachevV]

In the vernacular it means terminated, finished, killed, etc... e.g. People are axed from their jobs. It means they are fired.
So if a company is planning on down-sizing its workforce, it is often said that, "The axe is about to fall".

In Mediaeval England high ranking people were executed by being beheaded by an axe .
It probably comes from that.