Talk:Potoooooooo

Origin of eclectic name

Even as racehorses go, this is a pretty weird name -- any info on it's origin and pronunciation? DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 17:26, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

pot-8-os - potatoes

"the number 38 family"

"the number 38 family " is utterly obscure to the average well-prepared reader of Wikipedia: an appositive phrase lifting the veil of obscurity would be welcomed.--Wetman (talk) 20:11, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Copyright problem removed

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"Spud" career

Amusing vandalism given the pronunciation of the horse's name - someone changed the section header from "Stud career" to "Spud career". Gave me a giggle. Jlvsclrk (talk) 18:31, 20 September 2016 (UTC)

well they had a sense of humour back in the day as his foals included "NIghtshade" and "Waxy" which are both potato references, although neither would have me rolling on the floor. Tigerboy1966  20:17, 20 September 2016 (UTC)

Intended Name vs. Intended Pronunciation?

It seems like most sources online say that Abingdon intended to name the horse “Potatoes,” whereas this page claims he intended to name the horse “Potato,” citing an offline source.

The next sentence states that Abingdon was amused by the *spelling* and decided to adopt it. The implication here is that only the intended spelling changed, not the intended pronunciation, which at this point is still Potato.

The next sentence states that the intended pronunciation is “Potatoes,” again citing an offline source.

Are we sure that the originally intended name was Potato? (Stated in the article once) Are we sure that the spelling Potoooooooo was intended to be pronounced “Potatoes?” (Stated in the article twice) Are we sure Abingdon didn’t change his mind and change the name from Potato to Potatoes? Are we sure that Pot8Os and variants weren’t just spelling abbreviations by sportswriters and not pronunciation guidance? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.236.160.123 (talk) 06:46, 9 April 2019 (UTC)

Online sources aren't necessarily the best ones, and most of the sites you hit quickly on Google copy earlier versions of our own article. Every reputable source I've seen says the started with Potato. The Earl later named several of the horse's offspring after Potato varieties so I'm guessing he was a bit eccentric. From way back in the Full History of the British Turf, there's a brief excerpt of "the story when Champion had won the Leger of 1800, of his sires name, Potato, being written by the sharp-witted but illiterate stable boy, Potoooooooo". There's an alternative take in 101 Interesting Facts (which is the main source in our article, to which I've added an online link), where the stableboy found the name funny and wrote the name the odd way as a joke. A third version, from the excellent site tbheritage, said the name was actually given by the stable staff. We can certainly elaborate on all the variations, since its the horse's main claim to fame nowadays. I wish I can find the source of a contemporary of the earl joking along the lines that "the stable boy can't spell but he definitely has a wit."

As for intended pronunciation, the fact that all abbreviations put an s on the end would indicate the Earl went with the flow and used the plural form after accepting the revised spelling. Tbheritage states that "The horse first ran under the latter spelling (Potoooooooo), later shortened." If he ran under the alternate spelling, it definitely wasn't just the sportswriters. But it started with the long version because that's what's in the General Stud Book. Jlvsclrk (talk) 21:58, 9 April 2019 (UTC)