Dictionary definitions can be very helpful, but they do have their limitations! The most important thing is to know when it is appropriate to use a particular word or phrase, and also to have a sense for its “sematic flavour” - if I can put it like that.
There is, in actual fact, a subtle difference between “the straw that broke the/a camal’s back” and “the last straw”. These things basically come instinctively and subconsciously to native speakers, so they are not always easy to explain. But now that I think about it, I would say that the former is often neutral in tone (or perhaps has mildly humourous undertones) while the latter usually conveys a certain exasperation or anger.
If I say, “that’s the last freaking straw!” I’m definitely tending towards (at least) being very pissed off about the matter in question! In that kind of situation, one wouldn’t ever say “that was the straw that broke the camal’s back”; or at least, it would not convey the same flash of anger - it is somehow a more ponderous and considered turn of phrase.
(I still don’t know whether that quite explains it? These things have to do with the subtlety and nuance of language usage.)
There is a misunderstanding here. I was born and brought up in (and educated - mostly - in) the southern UK. I have spent time in the USA, Italy, Germany, Israel, France, and Austria. (The amount of time varies between years and weeks from one country to the next!)
The word “goteo” means “straw”, doesn’t it?
“藁(わら, wara)” in kanji means “straw”. ”藁人形(wara ningyo” means “straw man”, and it is said that this could be used to do a very weird wicked prayer, which I never believe in and never want to do. This is, of course, different from what is called “the straw-man argument”.
Are you saying you have no ties with the USA and that you have no American relatives whatsoever?
Are you also saying you have one single nationality and that you are British? That you have no entitlement to any other nationality and that both your parents are British?
Right. But (as noted above) it should also be understood that the two phrases are not by any means always completely equal and interchangeable in terms of usage.
I have no idea as to the size of the last drop, we need a scientist here to give a correct answer.
Irrespective of its size - just like it is with the proverbial last straw or the straw that broke the camel’s back - the last drop that caused the content of the glass to spill led to feelings and/or an action of some sort. And that is all. Whether you are more inclined to go with the original biblical camel and its straw or its offspring, the more modern last straw, is up to you. “The last straw” expression is often generated by strong emotion, mostly negative, whereas “and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back” is more of an ‘objective’ observation of causality.
“Goteo” means “dripping”, “das Tropfen” (from the verb). It’s not a wrong word. It’s only that “gota” (meaning “drop”, “der Tropfen”) is the word used in the above-mentioned expression.
