get the boot

Image acquired from Wikimedia Commons and used with permission. Left image attribution: Safedom. Middle image attribution: public domain. Right image attribution: Kenneth Allen

Explanation:

American cartoons actually have many funny and absurd idioms in them. In the old cartoons when someone was forced to leave a place, he wasn't just asked to leave, he was actually carried over to an open door, and then kicked (sometimes with a boot) into the street. In real life, most of the time, people don't get forced out of somewhere physically, but they are often told to leave a place or a company and never return.

Note: This expression can be used in the past (got the boot) or the future (will or going to get the boot).

Variations: He was booted out. They booted him out. They gave him the boot.

When someone is forced to leave a place, we say that he or she got the boot.

Example:

Susan: Hey Joe. Why are you putting all the stuff from your desk into a box?

Joe: The boss fired me. He told me to leave and never come back. I finally got the boot.

Susan: How did it happen?

Joe: It's ridiculous really. The boss fired me just because he caught me sleeping in my office for the 57th time.

Susan: That's too bad. Now you don't have a job.

Joe: Don't worry. I'm sure I can find another office to sleep in!

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