Talk:get the bird

RFD discussion: November–December 2020

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get the bird

Redundant to bird, i.e. SOP. Benwing2 (talk) 00:34, 9 November 2020 (UTC)

• Keep. Eh, you probably won't reply, but I'll stick to my MO: @SemperBlotto, would you like to keep the entry you created? -- Dentonius (my politics | talk) 10:27, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
• I would keep this as the sense of "bird" is not the usual one. SemperBlotto (talk) 13:22, 12 November 2020 (UTC)

  Is this even a sense of bird by itself? No applicable sense is currently listed.  --Lambiam 16:44, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

  I think it is, because it's also used in flip the bird and give someone the bird. PUC – 17:12, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

  I think the question is, do these phrases all come from the relevant sense of "bird", or is one idiom the original off of which the others are modelled? If the latter, then "bird" doesn't really have this meaning on its own. I would keep this, as I would never have guessed its meaning without the entry. Andrew Sheedy (talk) 16:37, 16 November 2020 (UTC)

  Right, e.g. "expect the bird" and "deserve the bird" would also be examples of this meaning outside of the specific phrase "get the bird". My feeling is that "the bird" has an independent existence, but I think the definite article is a more-or-less essential part of it. I think we are presently unsure/inconsistent about how to handle "article + noun" phrases. Mihia (talk) 23:21, 19 November 2020 (UTC)

  It is in the entry as Etymology 3. It's unexpected to find it so far down the entry, I agree; but not much can be done. This, that and the other (talk) 09:59, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

I've raised this at Wiktionary:Etymology_scriptorium/2020/December#bird. (Also, FYI, I have added the British(?) sense of booing and jeering which was previously missing.) Mihia (talk) 21:51, 4 December 2020 (UTC)

RFD kept — Dentonius 10:47, 16 December 2020 (UTC)

• Late keep. For one, this doesn't appear to always involve or exclusively involve rude gesticulating with the middle digit of the front paw? ←₰-→ Lingo ^Bingo _Dingo (talk) 11:16, 17 December 2020 (UTC)