Albatross around your neck

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Albatross around your neck

Origin of Phrases - A

 

Albatross around your neck

Meaning: Burdened by stigma or shame from a past deed.

 

Example: Your choice, you can put that job firing behind you or wear it like an albatross around your neck.

 

Origin: From Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner". An albatross, a symbol of good luck, landed on the ship and was killed by the captain while the ship was becalmed. The killing was thought to be the reason for a prolonged becalming. The Captain was forced to wear the albatross as a reminder of the wrong he had done.

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