get a duck—(Sport) fail to score (also: get a duck’s egg ):
- Life is very much like cricket: Some get scores and some “a duck.”
get the bird—
1. (Theater) be hissed by the audience:
- You should have been there when Caballe got the bird—deservedly, I fear.
2. (coll.) be dismissed from employment:
- When you were ill, I stole for you. I got the bird for it.
See also: give someone the bird / have a bird.