To get a pink slip, to get the bird
I know that "getting a pink slip" is meaning 'to get walking orders' .
I wonder why "a pink slip' and 'the bird'? What has it to do with "a pink slip" and "the bird"?

Can I change the definite article to the indefinite one?

Thanks in advance.

Question

To get a pink slip, to get the bird
I know that "getting a pink slip" is meaning 'to get walking orders' .
I wonder why "a pink slip' and 'the bird'? What has it to do with "a pink slip" and "the bird"?

Can I change the definite article  to the indefinite one?

Thanks in advance.

Answer

"To get a pink slip" means to lose your job. This is because the notice is sometimes a pink piece of paper in your pay envelope. "To get your walking papers" means the same although I've heard it used as official notice of divorce or legal separation from a spouse. I haven't heard "the bird" used in this way although you can "flip him the bird" which, means to make a rude gesture with your middle finger, I believe. The copulative explicative!

Answers · 1

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