qT=1&tQ=If someone is said to have 'an albatross around his neck,' he...&tC=continually faces a draining burden in his life.|is willing to harm others for vanity's sake.|has a strange fashion sense.|is deeply connected to the animal world.&cC=1&fB=The adage 'an albatross around his neck' stems from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem, <i>Rime of the Ancient Mariner.</i> The protagonist of Coleridge's story kills a friendly albatross, and must wear its carcass around his neck as a punishment.<br><br>While sailors regularly killed albatrosses for food, many believed in the long standing myth that it was dangerously bad luck to shoot or harm the birds. Some even believed that they embodied the souls of lost sailors.