Grasping
Another interesting entry at Common Errors in English Usage:
grasping for straws/grasping at straws
To grasp at straws is to make desperate but futile attempts to escape from a problem. The image is of a drowning person wildly thrashing about trying to find something to keep afloat with, madly grasping even a wisp of straw which is plainly incapable of doing the job. “Grasping for straws” suggests that the person is deliberately trying to find straws rather than blindly grabbing them.
Suddenly there are all kinds of weird plot bunnies hopping across of my screen.
.
grasping for straws/grasping at straws
To grasp at straws is to make desperate but futile attempts to escape from a problem. The image is of a drowning person wildly thrashing about trying to find something to keep afloat with, madly grasping even a wisp of straw which is plainly incapable of doing the job. “Grasping for straws” suggests that the person is deliberately trying to find straws rather than blindly grabbing them.
Suddenly there are all kinds of weird plot bunnies hopping across of my screen.
.