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    Albatross

    An Albatross is a deadweight, a burden or a white elephant.

    The expression is believed to originate from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem  “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in which an albatross starts to follow a ship. Although usually an omen of good luck, when the mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow the ship is cursed instead. To punish him his companions force him to wear the dead albatross around his neck until the end, when they all die from the curse.

    Example usage:

    “That car has become a real albatross, it spends more time at the mechanics than on the road!”.

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