Final Straw

What does the phrase mean - "that last mistake was the straw that broke the camel's back?"

It derives, I believe, from a proverbial story, in which a camel was increasingly laden - finally it was a mere straw which proved too much for the poor beast to bear, and it broke its back.

It has come to mean that in many cases, it will something seemingly very minor which proves too much to tolerate.

DFG

It is a handy way of describing thresholds of tolerence - for example; if a person already has a high level of frustration - which can have physiological effects - adding something minor to that can raise the person's level into rage. I have often have to explain that to people trying to deal with stress/anger situations and it can help some people to see that they need to work on their underlying stresses to avoid that 'final straw' tipping them into rage.

it is a very useful metaphor for drawing attention to the fact that breaking point can be incrementally reached.

L