THE LAST STRAW

An occurrence that is “the last straw” or “the last straw that broke the camel’s back” is the latest of a series of undesirable/unpleasant occurrences that finally makes a situation intolerable.

 Examples:

 “The four parties then declared that many things had cumulated over the last few months and this issue was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.”

 “The humiliating elimination from the FA Cup by Liverpool’s reserves proved to be the last straw for a posse of Everton fans, who turned up at the club’s training ground this week to give players and staff some forthright feedback.”

 “The business said that Havering Council hiking up parking charges last year ‘was the last straw’.”


 This phrase is believed to originate from a mid-seventeenth-century proverb meaning that even a minor problem can overwhelm someone who is already overburdened. [1]


 Photo credit: Todd Fowler (Creative Commons)

 [1] Knowles, Elizabeth. “last” in The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press, 2005.