Perl code can be and often is elegant. But the Perl language is not. Describing it as such is a sign of something wrong with the speaker. Likely possibilities include an overabundance of evangelical zeal, a misunderstanding of what elegance is, or a truly warped sense of aesthetics.

Perl is simply too big with too much crammed in it and too many weird edge cases to be called elegant with a straight face. C is elegant. Scheme is elegant. Smalltalk is elegant. Perl is not.

Note: elegant is not the same as good.