This week's theme: words with a built-in definite article. albatross (AL-buh-tros) noun, plural albatross or albatrosses
1. Any of the Diomedeidae family of large, web-footed seabirds. 2. A persistent wearisome burden, as of guilt, for example. [Apparently an alteration of Portuguese or Spanish alcatraz, from Arabic al-gattas (the diver, name for a kind of sea eagle).] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=albatross The name of the Alcatraz Island near San Francisco, the site of a former maximum security prison, has the same origin. The metaphorical second sense of the term goes back to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the poem, a mariner kills an albatross for no reason. His shooting down of the bird brings a curse to the ship, and his shipmates throw the carcass of the dead bird around his neck, thus giving a powerful idiom to the English language. As a penance, the wizened mariner wanders, recounting his tale. -Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org) "What started off as a popular war has turned out to be something of an albatross around Mr Bush's neck." A Push for Bush; Business Standard (New Delhi, India); Nov 9, 2006. Sponsors' Messages: 15% off BrainBuster combo: back issues, T-shirt, book. Enter code: buster at http://www.mentalfloss.com/store 101 Questions Answered! What do Muslims believe? How bad is bird flu? Who's to blame for income tax? http://knowledgenews.net/s?s=aw111506 ............................................................................ Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. -George Washington, 1st US president (1732-1799) Send your comments to (words AT wordsmith.org). To unsubscribe, update address send gift subscription, etc., visit http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/albatross.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/albatross.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/albatross.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
