[Ads-l] "VERB at straws"

[Robin Hamilton]

I suspect that Wilson, Joel, and myself are all into cliche-avoidance -- or am I
clutching at the proverbial here?

Anyone competent to run (which might provide a semi-solid answer to Wilson's
question) an N-gram trace on "grasp/reach/clutch" "at/after" "straws"?

I confess using that particular (and useful) google add-on baffles me.

Robin.

> 
>     On 21 September 2016 at 23:09 Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> 
>     Though Robin may _grasp after_ straws and Joel may _reach at_ straws, I
>     prefer to _grasp at_ straws.
> 
>     Are there other prefs?
> 
>     --
>     -Wilson
>     -----
>     All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>     come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>     -Mark Twain
> 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org