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Draw the short straw

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To be randomly selected for an undesirable task or fate, from lot-drawing customs using straws of unequal length.

Detailed Definition
This idiom conveys arbitrary misfortune or reluctant duty, emphasizing chance over merit. In poetry, it appears in war, exile, or sacrificial contexts—where individuals bear collective burdens by random selection. Wilfred Owen’s soldiers or Holocaust poets evoke similar randomness of doom. The image’s simplicity masks existential weight: why me? Its democratic unfairness makes it potent in poems critiquing fate, bureaucracy, or the illusion of control. The straw—fragile, organic—contrasts with the gravity of consequence, heightening pathos.
Example
Example in poetry:
Holocaust poetry: “They drew the short straw—names pulled from a hat for the next transport”; In a war poem: “Who mans the watch tonight? We drew the short straw—fate in a splintered stick”; Office satire: “Promotion lottery: drew the short straw again—back to the cubicle mines”; Existential verse: “Born into famine—drew the short straw in life’s cruel raffle”.
Additional Notes
From lot-drawing customs using straws of unequal length to assign tasks. This idiom conveys arbitrary misfortune or reluctant duty. In poetry, it appears in war, exile, or sacrificial contexts—where individuals bear collective burdens by random selection (e.g., Holocaust verse). The image’s simplicity masks existential weight: why me? Its democratic unfairness makes it potent in poems critiquing fate or bureaucracy, where chance—not merit—determines destiny, highlighting the trauma of randomness in structured systems.
Also Known As
Get the raw deal
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