Albatrosses have been described as "the most legendary of all birds". When people are sad or feel they are carrying a burden, they may use the expression 'to have an albatross around their neck'. There is a myth that sailors do not shoot or eat albatrosses because they think it will bring bad luck, but in reality sailors regularly killed and ate them. They were often thought of as the souls of lost sailors. The Māori people used the wing bones of the albatross to carve tattoos into their skin at ceremonies.