Straw that broke the camel's back
Meaning: A small issue that pushed something over its limit
Originated in: 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Original quote:
Last feather may be said to break a horse's back
Earliest attestation: Hobbs's Tripos, in Three Discourses by Thomas Hobbes (1684)
The straw that breaks the camel’s back is a small issue that, combined with all of the other issues, cumulatively pushes something past its limit. To a naïve onlooker, the resulting fallout may look way out of proportion for what happened, but that’s because he’s missing everything that happened before.
The idiom pictures a a camel who is literally at his breaking point. He is loaded up with so much weight to carry, that he can hardly bear it. He is miserable, straining, and can’t take any more. Then someone adds a tiny stalk of hay to the overloaded beast. This puts it from 99.9999% of the weight it can carry to 100.0001%. Its muscles give out under the load. Its spine cracks. The camel collapses. The weight has killed him. People think, “How could such a tiny thing kill a giant camel?” Because the straw itself was an insignificant portion of the weight which killed the camel. Everything else on its back was the primary driver of its demise.
Therefore the idiom refers to a small issue that just tips a bunch of cumulative problems into a disaster. It’s often used for people’s tolerances. Everyone can overlook minor faults. Ideally, they turn the other cheek when someone wrongs them. However, when people are the target of repeated abuses, which might each be minor, eventually they often reach their breaking point and they will blow up in anger or collapse in sorrow or some such dramatic reaction. This seems a massive overreaction to the final small issue, but the person was already miserable and/or angry from all the other perceived slights. The last issue just made them unwilling to internalize it anymore. The same thing goes for relationships. No one agrees 100% of the time, but if your boyfriend/girlfriend and you are constantly arguing, something small may cause you to break up in light of everything else between you.
It can also be used with physical tolerances. A small bit of extra weight might break an overloaded container or vehicle. Repeated damage to equipment may eventually destroy it from a small incident. A local environment may have its ecosystem severely impaired but it can adapt to a point until another small change can cause total ecological collapse. A business may have high overhead costs and struggle financially but make it by until a small added expense makes it no longer profitable.
This idiom helps people recognize that major events or reactions often have complex, multi-faceted causes. It encourages a more nuanced view of situations and can promote empathy by reminding us that what appears to be an overreaction may in fact be the result of long-standing issues. It is often key to ensure that you are viewing the whole situation, not just the last piece of news.