Verry Ellegant’s 2021 Melbourne Cup win is only a few hours old, but it’s already attracted controversy from an unlikely source.
President for Life of the Proper English Usage Society, Roger Thacklewaite-Curmudgurn III, has argued that Verry Ellegant should be stripped of their Cup win due to their deliberately misspelt name.
”When I saw that dang horse’s name in the paper, I assumed it was a misprint. I became increasingly enraged when I watched the race on TV and saw that the ghastly misspelling was on purpose!” said Roger. “Two ‘R’s’ AND two ‘L’ isn’t just careless grammar, it’s downright criminal!” said Roger.
“As soon as the race was over, I called an emergency meeting of P.E.U.S and we’ve already drafted a strongly-worded letter to Racing Victoria or whatever they’re called.”
However, there was a delay in sending the letter after a heated two-hour debate over whether to use the Oxford comma or not, with a 50/50 deadlock.
“We didn’t end up sending the letter as we were too distracted by the Oxford Comma politics, which is far more important than some silly horse race,” said Roger. “The people who watch that excuse for a ‘sport’ can barely spell anyway and are too busy getting drunk. Give me the sedate ebb and flow of a County Championship cricket game, thank you very much.”
