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Jamesy
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06 Sep 2016, 2:10 pm

What does the phrase 'final straw that broke the camels back' mean exactley in your opinions?



dcj123
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06 Sep 2016, 2:24 pm

The idiom the straw that broke the camel's back, alluding to the proverb "it is the last straw that breaks the camel's back", describes the seemingly minor or routine action which causes an unpredictably large and sudden reaction, because of the cumulative effect of small actions.

-Wikipedia



auntblabby
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06 Sep 2016, 7:16 pm

if you pick at a scab one too many times, it will come off and you'll bleed.



BirdInFlight
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06 Sep 2016, 7:21 pm

You can take so much of things that stress you or test your nerve, and seemingly go on being strong even for "big" stressors --- and then suddenly a small thing (someone saying the wrong thing, the mayo jar slipping and breaking, a pulled thread in your favorite clothing, forgetting something from the store) finally makes you snap and just lose it, get upset, not be able to go on, get mad, melt down, shut down, have a breakdown.

Outwardly it looks to others like "Why did such a stupid thing upset you?" Inwardly you've been "taking it and taking it" about much more serious concerns, but the last tiny upsetting thing finally made you unable to cope anymore.



somanyspoons
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06 Sep 2016, 7:26 pm

Literally, it refers to camels. They are used as pack animals. People used to stack them high with baggage before heading out through the dessert. But you can't stack them with too much stuff. If its too heavy, the animal's back might really break. So the idea is to not add too much stuff. The phrase, the straw that broke the camel's back is about adding just a little too much weight to a camel's baggage that is already very heavy. Applied to real life, it means that if you already are very burdened with troubles, a little problem can feel like it's "breaking" you.



auntblabby
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06 Sep 2016, 7:28 pm

it is like adding one more task to an overloaded computer and it finally crashes.



lostonearth35
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07 Sep 2016, 11:08 am

It's a variation of "that's the last straw!", as in you're fed up, enough is enough. I'm not sure but I think the origin of the saying may have come from making camels carry straw, or hay, and just packing more and more of it on until they can't possibly carry it. So if someone or something annoys you more and more until you just can't take it anymore, it's like the last bit of straw that broke the camel's back.