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A friend likes this lady for many of her nice qualities. But one of her small niceness-es made him fall for her completely.

He referred to it as "The straw that broke the camels back" which I believe is not the phrase that quite describes it.

What phrase was best suited?

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    I think the straw that broke the camel's back or even just the final straw both work in this situation. He did fall, after all :)
    – Callithumpian
    Commented May 23, 2012 at 15:35
  • The series The Black Adder had it as "The crowning turd in the water-pipe", although it carries distinctly negative connotations. The internationally accepted "The drop that made the cup run over" might be better suited, I think! :)
    – Henrik Erlandsson
    Commented Jul 21, 2012 at 22:11
  • Near duplicates: english.stackexchange.com/q/193048/232549 and english.stackexchange.com/q/63028/232549
    – sondra.kinsey
    Commented Apr 1, 2020 at 21:56

3 Answers 3

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Two idiomatic phrases would be "the cherry on top" and "icing on the cake".

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    Both of these phrases indicate that the deal was already settled (the sundae/cake already exists) and that the last thing was an added bonus. I think the OP is indicating that the item in question is the most important, rather than a bonus.
    – George Cummins
    Commented May 23, 2012 at 15:02
  • @GeorgeCummins: I disagree. The many nice qualities of the lady make for the cake; but what separates her from other cakes is the icing. I really like this answer.
    – Gorpik
    Commented Jun 8, 2012 at 11:07
  • @George Cummings: In "the straw that broke the camel's back," the last straw is not particularly heavy, it's just the one that pushes the weight past the limit. Similarly, in "the icing on the cake," the icing is not necessarily the most important part, but an additional bonus that makes it truly excellent.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Dec 24, 2022 at 13:03
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Your question does't match your title. The straw that broke the camel's back matches what you describe, although I think the usage as the final straw, would sound a bit better. Possibly something along the lines of nail in my coffin or bowled me over.

Sorta the reverse, but also possibly a bit of the same would be "to boot" as in "and she can cook to boot". The reason why it might be both is that it is used in both senses: toss x in to boot and you've got a deal vs I'll toss x in to boot after the deal has been made.

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You're looking for a word for a small thing that has the effect of convincing someone, changing their mind, or concluding a deal, specifically that causes something good to happen.

The clincher: Merriam-Webster gives as a definition "a decisive fact, argument, act, or remark". Their example is negative ("the expense was the clincher that persuaded us to give up the enterprise") but it can also be used of positive things that make you decide to do something. Collins has the example "DNA fingerprinting has proved the clincher in this investigation." You could say "Her doing XXX was the clincher."

A near-synonym of this is the deciding factor, which has a similar meaning, but maybe refers more to making a decision based on analyzing reasons, and less on situations where some minor factor has disproportionate effect. Merriam-Webster defines it as "something that causes someone to make a particular decision".

You can also talk of something sealing the deal. This means literally something that causes someone to accept a deal - Farlex has "I wasn't convinced at first, but it sealed the deal when he offered to include a 10-year warranty for free." But it is also used metaphorically for something that isn't really a deal, maybe something like "She had many good qualities but when she did (something) that really sealed the deal."

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  • All usable, but none necessarily small extra details.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jan 31, 2023 at 17:37

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