Hi forum members,
What does "gradunza" and actually "family gradunza" mean?
I found no related photo to "moss- covered three-handled family gradunza" in The Cat in the Hat cartoon and film (though I didn't watch them completely).
I found the definition "A piece of furniture that you use to place astray objects (such as keys, cell phones, and papers) on and store handbags underneath that was past down to you from your father." in urbandictionary.com, but it still can't help me to imagine the object.
I would be thankful of any help.
As far as I know or can tell, it is not a "real" English word. It may be a nonsense word intended to suggest "credenza" (https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/credenza), or a deliberately mangled spelling/pronunciation of "credenza". However, many hits for the spelling "gradunza" seem to be user-generated and possibly user-guessed. Is there a good authority that this is the "correct" spelling of the word sung in the song?
No, unfortunately. I also have come across "credenza" about several minutes ago, and guess it's the correct spelling.
I come across the phrase "moss- covered three-handled family gradunza" in a neuroscientific book. Its author have used it to make a comparison.
Thank you so much dear GPY.
There is no such word. It appears in the TV rendition of Theodore Geisel's incomparable little book The Cat in the Hat. The non-word does not appear in the book, and we never see what it is in the TV program.
I notice that there are also some hits for the spellings "gredunza" and "grudunza", so perhaps some writers just take a guess at how to spell this mangled or made-up word, in the absence of its being written down somewhere definitively. I'm not sure.
There are a lot of fantastical words in the Dr. Seuss books for children. Since the object in question went missing, you have to do as children do, and use your imagination.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/s/fah-who-foraze-the-magical-language-of-dr-seuss-and-the-whos/#the-wit-and-whimsy-of-dr-seuss
That’s because “gradunza” is not actually a word. The word is “credenza”. Someone who listened to a video tried to spell it phonetically, but failed. If you Google “credenza” you’ll find lots of images.