For the birds

If something is said to be ‘for the birds’, it means that something is trivial or worthless. It is originally an American expression and first makes its appearance in the US military during the 1940s. It is thought to derive from a shortening of an earlier American expression, ‘shit for the birds’, now largely defunct, that dates from the late 19th century when horse-drawn vehicles were the order of the day. Such vehicles left horse manure in the street, and birds would routinely peck through this looking for food, morsels of grain etc. Therefore, if something was ‘for the birds’ it was horse manure or horseshit, meaning that it was worthless. It is highly unusual for any military organisation to make a vulgar expression like ‘shit for the birds’ more respectable by omitting the scatological element, but ‘shit for the birds’ is rarely heard or used these days. The fact remains that if something is ‘for the birds’ it is generally horseshit and therefore worthless. See also Horseshit.