Talk:Straw that broke the camel's back

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from VfD: Dictdef. Securiger 13:56, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)

  • Keep [[User:Rex071404|Rex071404 ]] 15:40, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete. Wiktionary. Rory 15:42, Sep 29, 2004 (UTC)
  • Keep. Mark Richards 16:35, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Redirect to List of idioms in the English language. Since it's difficult to measure notability of phrases like this, they should all be kept in the one article. Darksun 17:08, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Keep this. Intrigue 19:42, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete and redirect to List of idioms in the English language. [[User:Gamaliel|Gamaliel File:Watchmensmiley20.gif]] 20:06, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Delete altogether, WP is not a book of general sayings and idioms. What's next, "One for the money, two for the show?" or "A bird in hand is worth two in the bush," ad nauseum.
  • Keep. Notable, notable, notable. — El Chico! Talk 20:10, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Transwiki to Wiktionary. This is a dicdef (a discussion of the meaning and usage of a word or phrase). I see no possibility of expansion. Rossami 20:57, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Transwiki and Redirect to List of idioms in the English language. It's notable, but suited for a dictionary definition rather than an encylopaedia article. -- WOT 21:02, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Comment: it seems like cases like these would be simpler if Wikipedia and Wiktionary were more integrated. -- WOT 21:03, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)

end moved discussion

Mm...[edit]

Add the bit about Dickens to the List of Idioms page and delete this...

2007-02-9 Automated pywikipediabot message[edit]

--CopyToWiktionaryBot 09:01, 9 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Earliest known appearance in English[edit]

In 1655, Archbishop John Bramhall wrote: It is the last feather that breaks the horse's back, which is the identical concept albeit using slightly different words. [1]. -- JackofOz (talk) 08:23, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

how much straw do you need to break a camel's back?[edit]

I wouldn't mind a bit of scientific fact about camels and volume to weight ratio and back density. Anyone know anything about the literalisms behind this idiom? PyroGamer (talk) 22:43, 19 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think about 103,847 straws worth of weight would do. Remember seeing it in a reddit forum somewhere. Don't take my word though, I would recommend checking for yourself on my accuracy. Carnival200 (talk) 17:09, 1 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Arabic, Dickens, Tamil, etc.[edit]

What evidence do we have that this proverb is a calque from the Arabic? Simply because a camel is mentioned? But our earliest English source talks of a "horse", and the "last drop" version comes from about the same time. The source given, Exploring Idioms, is written for 4-8th grade, and shows no evidence of scholarly research.

Why was the Dickens use of this quote so prominent? I have moved it to a chronological list of occurrences.

The Tamil proverb is translated as "With peacock feathers light, you load the wain; / Yet, heaped too high, the axle snaps in twain." which doesn't mean the same thing at all -- it is saying that it doesn't matter if the weight of individual items is small if you load too many of them; it isn't talking about the "last drop" or the "last straw". I am removing it.

For that matter, should WP really be listing dozens of translations of a proverb? --Macrakis (talk) 04:51, 15 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]