The Englishlanguageis filled with beast - inspired idioms , fromhorseplaytomonkey business . One of the more eccentric examples of this is the phraseto have an albatross around your neck . If you ’ve ever used this expression to identify anunwanted burden , you were quoting poetry — possibly without realizing it .
This is one of the rareidiomswhose beginning can be retrace back to the germ . If you hit the books the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem “ The Rime of the Ancient Mariner " in English class , you may already be conversant with the phrase . In the previous 18th - century literary work , a sailor recall shooting a harmless albatross . The seafowl are considered prosperous in marine folklore , so the act triggers misfortune for the whole gang . Aspunishment , the Panama is squeeze to wear down the brute ’s carcass around his cervix . you may read the famous passage below .
“ Ah ! well a - solar day ! What wickedness looksHad I from honest-to-goodness and young!Instead of the cross , the AlbatrossAbout my cervix was hung . ”
Today , the phrasehave an albatross around your neckis used to characterize an unpleasant responsibility or setting that ’s impossible to debar . It can refer to something moderately vexing , like an old firearm of article of furniture you ca n’t get rid of , or something as consequential as unsound luck at ocean .
Next time you call something “ an albatross around your neck , ” you could experience a little smarter bed you ’re quote classicliterature . Here are otherexamplesofpoetryyou may use in everyday conversation without know it .
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A variation of this story ran in 2021 ; it has been updated for 2024 .
