I can't find the URL. but I remember a story from a few years back, where there was some sort of programming competition at some big university. Perl was not allowed to be used in the competition, because it was too easy to win with it. I'd say that makes it "a ground-breaking language".

I pulled this out of a "groups.google.com" search for "perl programming competition":

Perl "Too Good" This is a true story. Names have not been changed. UCLA's Computer Science Undergraduate Association regularly hosts its programming competition. Contestants are given six complex problems and have three hours to write programs to solve as many of the problems as possible. In 1997, the rules stated that any programming language could be used so long as you solved the problem, so then-undergraduate Keith Chiem entered and used Perl. Keith did not merely win, he conquered. He solved five of the six problems in the three hours allotted. The second-place two-person team solved only three problems. They, needless to say, were not using Perl. But if you're a UCLA undergraduate contemplating entering the contest and using Perl, don't bother. After Keith's conquest, Perl was banned from the contest. You've got to admire a language that is banned because it makes problems too easy to solve. These days, Keith is a sysadmin at Yahoo! Inc., and is wondering what to do with the copy of Visual C++ that was his prize.