'Fishes' is an acceptable plural of 'fish.' Straw and hay are different notions: hay is the stuff you feed cows; they'd be disappointed (and skinnier) if they had to eat straw, which once was and still may be used to stuff mattresses, etc.
. To draw straws as a means of deciding something is recorded from 1832. The last straw is from the proverb of the camel. Straw poll is from 1932; earlier straw vote (1866). Straw hat first attested mid-15c. To clutch (or grasp or catch) at straws (1748) is what a drowning man proverbially would do.
Robert Paul
I'm wondering if anyone has any idea as to the origin of the expression clutching at straws. Straw, as in hay, is collectively singular, like fish. Straws are the little tubes we drink out of, a relatively modern invention one would think. Clutching at straw sounds more like a personality disorder, which leaves clutching at straws, which would give the expression a short history. Any ideas on where/when this may have originated?
