Meaning:
The final additional small burden that makes the entirety of one's
difficulties unbearable.
Background:
The full version of this metaphorical phrase is `the last straw which breaks
the camel's back', which has an Old Testament sound about it. Searches there
produce many references to straw and camels amongst the smiting and
begetting, but no `last straw'.
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations lists it as a `mid 17th century proverb',
but offers no supporting evidence for that view. The earliest citation that I
can find is from The Edinburgh Advertiser, May 1816:
"MR. BROUGHAM remarked, that if it [a tax on soap] were only 3d. a head, or
4d. and 5d. upon the lower orders, yet straw upon straw was laid till the
last straw broke the camel's back."
Some authorities suggest that the phrase is a variant on an olde proverb `it
is the last feather that breaks the horse's back'. That may be so. The
earliest I can find for that is after 1816 though and, of course, much later
than mid 17th century. That's also from The Edinburgh Advertiser, in November
1829:
"It may be very well for Mr. O'Connell, in his own exultation of heart, to
ascribe the success of the Catholic Relief Bill to his `agitation;' but the
fact is, that `agitation' was only the cause of Emancipation in the same
sense in which it is true that the last feather breaks the horse's back."
Last but not least there is, or rather was in 1843, a merger of the two
phrases. This appeared in The Southport American in October 1843:
"And finally, the `feather which breaks the camel's back' having been added
to Sir Walter's burthen, he was struck down by paralysis, and after
lingering a few months, was gathered to his fathers."
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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The last straw takes the rap or credit when all the earlier ones went under the
radar. Doesn't each play an equal if not bigger part toward the final flop or
triumph and therefore should be treated with the same seriousness? To avoid
something bad, for example, we'd say mind the trickle to ward off the mickle or
防微杜漸.
It ain't easy, if anything, to be alert all the time. For instance, many a
middle-aged man struggling to lose weight or, even harder, trying to stay fit,
can attest to the discipline it demands. For me, the strong morning resolve
dwindles as the day proceeds and every afternoon is a test of will. I'm writing
these words after gaining 1.2lbs from carb-binging at my boy's middle-school
reunion party last evening. Okay, let's start over today.
