Strictly for the birds

[tartanwiz]

'Strictly for the birds' is an old expression. I'm not sure what it means. I think it means 'for fools', but I'm not certain. What exactly does it mean and where does it come from? Thanks.

[Quizmonster]

It started life as USA slang for 'trivial' or 'worthless'. The earliest recorded example of it is in J D Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye', published in 1951. Back then, in US Army terms, it was taken as a reference to the fact that birds often ate - or at least pecked at - animal droppings. I'm sure I don't need to translate that into the equivalent short word we'd probably use nowadays in British English. Thus, anything that is 'strictly for the birds' is - - - -!