2007-07-30 02:13:45 · 4 answers · asked by kyoko 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
It is a line in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and it is a problem resulting from something you did that stops you from being successful.
2007-07-30 03:47:08 · answer #1 · answered by Hamish 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I haven't checked this but I think that this is a reference to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in which the said mariner kills an albatross (considered to be a bad omen) and is therefore forced to wear the dead bird around his neck as a punishment and warning to others. This quite understandably was quite an encumbrance, hence the expression.
2007-07-30 02:26:05 · answer #2 · answered by Vernix Lanugo 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I might be wrong here but didn't it come from the poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'? I seem to recall it from school although the expression may have been around before the poem.
2007-07-30 02:26:16 · answer #3 · answered by chameleon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's often used to mean a burden.
2007-07-30 03:37:48 · answer #4 · answered by VeggieTart -- Let's Go Caps! 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋