ProverbChallenge
English origin1534
English origin1534A drowning man will catch at a straw.
Meaning: Desperation drives people to grasp at even the most fragile solutions when facing catastrophe.
Origin: Thomas More wrote in 1534 of a man in peril of drowning catching at whatever comes next to hand, "be it never so simple a stick." The straw arrived in 1583, when the cleric John Prime wrote of men ready to drown who "catch at every straw." A straw cannot hold anyone up, which is the point: desperation grabs at any hope, however useless.
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