The last straw is the straw that breaks the camel’s back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Idioms sometimes have changed significantly. The Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms explains the last straw as follows:

 

“The last (or final) straw -

A further difficulty or annoyance, typically minor in itself but coming on top of a whole series of difficulties, that makes a situation unbearable.

The full version of this is the proverb the last straw breaks the camel’s back. The modern form is traceable to Charles Dickens in Dombey and Son (1848), but earlier versions are recorded, including a mid 17 th-century reference to the last feather breaking a horse’s back.”

 

The Meriam-Webster dictionary has a similar explanation. Another explanation at The Phrase Finder has some more details. Both the animal and the object were changed from the original version for that idiom.

 

Ninety years ago there was a Marx brothers comedy film titled Horse Feathers. Meriam-Webster says that horsefeathers just means nonsense or balderdash. But The Phrase Finder says that compound word is a euphemism for horsesh*t.

 

The cartoon came from page 1 of the February 21, 1912 issue of Punch magazine found at the Internet Archive.