idioms - What does the kitten get?


Jeff Atwood writes:



Vote For This Question or The Kitten Gets It ... every time you forget to vote a great question up, or a bad question down — a kitten gets it!



The kitten looks awfully sad, but why would it be sad for getting a question?


kitten



Answer



Andy F is right - I think you misunderstand what to get it refers to here. This is not entirely your fault, since it is deictic and the actual referent here is not explicitly mentioned (as is usual for this particular use of the phrase).


In this case, get it is being used in this way:



(v) get it (receive punishment) "You are going to get it!" - Source



It here refers to some unnamed but presumably terrible punishment to be meted out to the party in question.


...Put in context, he was joking, really.


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