Birthplace of Immanuel Kant (immortalised by Monty Python as a real pissant who was very rarely stable – although, in fairness to Eric Idle and the gang, this was only because they wanted someone to rhyme with Heidegger’s boozy beggar who could think you under the table), Königsberg has a long and distinguished history.
At least, it did have until the Russians hived it off at the end of the Second World War, presenting the transfer of sovereignty as a fait accompli to Truman, Churchill and Attlee at the Potsdam Conference before proceeding to do a spot of ethnic cleansing on the indigenous German population and changing the name to the distinctly unromanticKaliningrad .
With its umlaut, the convention is that Königsberg can be rendered in English as Konigsberg or Koenigsberg, and it was as the later that local owner Kanny Ng Ting Wah chose to name his newly purchased racehorse, which was getting its first outing at Happy Valley last Wednesday.
Sadly, it didn’t go very well, as the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Racing Incident Report records in the kind of English favoured by policemen who, after years of interviewing Chelsea supporters, are unable to respond to the wife’s mobile phone enquiry with a simple "I'm walking down the High Street towards the newsagent's, luv", lapsing involuntarily into their particular brand of officialese, "I am proceeding in a northerly direction towards the purveyor of tobacco, confection and newsprint".
"As the start was effected, Koenigsberg stood flat-footed and lost a considerable amount of ground," is the damning appraisal of this nag’s performance, as it proceeded to beat only one other runner home.
However, what the stewards clearly didn’t realise was the intolerable handicap the gelding was running under. The 5-year-old simply didn’t have a chance from the moment he was being loaded into the stalls and commentator Brett Davis started calling him Cohen Eggs Berg.
Give the fellow a chance, Brett! Next time, try “Kernigsberg”.
At least, it did have until the Russians hived it off at the end of the Second World War, presenting the transfer of sovereignty as a fait accompli to Truman, Churchill and Attlee at the Potsdam Conference before proceeding to do a spot of ethnic cleansing on the indigenous German population and changing the name to the distinctly unromantic
With its umlaut, the convention is that Königsberg can be rendered in English as Konigsberg or Koenigsberg, and it was as the later that local owner Kanny Ng Ting Wah chose to name his newly purchased racehorse, which was getting its first outing at Happy Valley last Wednesday.
Sadly, it didn’t go very well, as the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Racing Incident Report records in the kind of English favoured by policemen who, after years of interviewing Chelsea supporters, are unable to respond to the wife’s mobile phone enquiry with a simple "I'm walking down the High Street towards the newsagent's, luv", lapsing involuntarily into their particular brand of officialese, "I am proceeding in a northerly direction towards the purveyor of tobacco, confection and newsprint".
"As the start was effected, Koenigsberg stood flat-footed and lost a considerable amount of ground," is the damning appraisal of this nag’s performance, as it proceeded to beat only one other runner home.
However, what the stewards clearly didn’t realise was the intolerable handicap the gelding was running under. The 5-year-old simply didn’t have a chance from the moment he was being loaded into the stalls and commentator Brett Davis started calling him Cohen Eggs Berg.
Give the fellow a chance, Brett! Next time, try “Kernigsberg”.
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