An albatross for Republicans_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

An albatross for Republicans

That is why for these Republican office seekers, advocating for bank bail-outs has become a curse, a bad omen.

Or as mentioned in the text above, an albatross.

This is short for the phrase “albatross across the back” or “an albatross around the neck”, and this expression finds its origin in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).

But first things first.

First, the albatross. The albatross is one of the largest sea birds in the vast oceans of the southern hemisphere, with a huge wingspan that allows it to glide seemingly effortlessly in sky. Sailors in the old days used to see the albatross as an omen for good luck because where there are birds seen, islands are often near. Where the albatross is concerned, however, this is actually an erroneous calculation because we know today that the albatross are able travel thousands of kilometers in search for food and thus may spend weeks on the fly at sea. They’re called the wandering albatross for this very reason. But anyways, in the old days, the albatross was considered a sign of good luck and sailors used to treat the albatross with a warm feeling.

However, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the mariner killed the albatross that had been accompanying their ship. A series of mishaps ensued, what with winds and rains and lasting tempests, and the ship sailed on and on and on without any trace of earth in sight. In the end, fellow sailors forced the said mariner to wear the dead albatross around his neck as a form of punishment and a show of penance. In the poem: