English idiom: "Give the boot"
"give someone the boot"
(transitive, idiomatic, UK, informal) "To fire, to sack, to dismiss".
- I am sorry for your husband and children, but I have to give you the boot.
- They said I couldn't do the job, so they gave me the boot. So, now I'm looking for work again.
Synonyms: "lay_off" (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wikisaurus:lay_off)
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http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/give_the_boot
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An early 20th-century illustration of an university faculty member being "given the boot", slang for a form of involuntary termination
"Faculty Foot": illustration for a piece of verse in 1909 "Tyee" (yearbook of the University of Washington).
The book dated 1908-09, so no later than that date. Photographed from a copy at Seattle Public Library.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1909_Tyee_-_Faculty_Foot.jpg
Навеяло этим: http://sturman-george.livejournal.com/237393.html