# Grinchy questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743 "2007-10-31T17:27:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/1 "2007-10-31T17:27:07Z")
Does the fact that he was “The” Grinch mean there was only one of him? Is Grinch a title or a species? Did he have a name? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/2 "2007-10-31T18:05:27Z")
I always figured was a solo mythical beast, like a Yeti or Sasquatch. Maybe more like Cyclops, Kraken, Medusa, Minotaur, etc. I may not know my mythology enough, but I didn’t think they normally had families, like one might think a dragon, or griffin, or unicorn had. Maybe that’s why he hated Christmas, and enslaved animals. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/3 "2007-10-31T18:07:40Z")
He was the last of his kind. The ‘roast beast’ was actually roast Grinch. Fricken Whos. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/4 "2007-10-31T18:13:32Z")
I think the live-action movie had him as a mutated Who. In the Seuss original (and the Chuck Jones animated version) there was no origin given. He just was. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/5 "2007-10-31T18:17:41Z")
If he’s singular, where did he come from? Is he like a mule? a cross of a … I dunno, a Kermit and a Boris Karloff? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/6 "2007-10-31T18:20:50Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] If he’s singular, where did he come from? Is he like a mule? a cross of a … I dunno, a Kermit and a Boris Karloff? [/QUOTE] Well, Karloff did supply the narration in the Chuck Jones animated version. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/7 "2007-10-31T18:21:47Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] If he’s singular, where did he come from? Is he like a mule? a cross of a … I dunno, a Kermit and a Boris Karloff? [/QUOTE] I was thinking more like Yoda and Bea Arthur. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/8 "2007-10-31T18:22:47Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] Well, Karloff did supply the narration in the Chuck Jones animated version. [/QUOTE] That was the joke. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/9 "2007-10-31T18:23:34Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] If he’s singular, where did he come from? Is he like a mule? a cross of a … I dunno, a Kermit and a Boris Karloff? [/QUOTE] He’s a Seussian Grinch (Greenfurrius curmudgeonis), a Platonic ideal that springs full-blown into the world out of the psyche of the Creator ([rumored to be a whitehaired, whitebearded man with a beak of a nose and hornrimmed glasses](http://www.sandiegohistory.org/timeline/images/UT90p6480.jpg)). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/10 "2007-10-31T18:24:35Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] I was thinking more like Yoda and Bea Arthur. [/QUOTE] That’s a stag reel I truly don’t need to see… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/11 "2007-10-31T18:29:52Z")
You know, the REAL question on Seussian taxonomy is this: Are the Grinchite Whos the same species as the Hortonite Whos? And if they’re not, then why do they have the same name? THERE is your seminal Seussian question of the century, folks! Is the entire universe of Whoville and the Grinchian Mountains contained in the single dandelion puff that Horton plucks from the plant? Or are the Hortonite Whos an ancient offshoot of the Grinchian Whos, as the Romulans are of the Vulcans, only shrunken in stature? And just where do the Sneeches (Starbelly or Plain) come into all of this? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/12 "2007-10-31T18:31:57Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] I was thinking more like Yoda and Bea Arthur. [/QUOTE] Mmmmm. Manly you are, yet receptive to probing. My Chosen One have I found! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/13 "2007-10-31T18:32:26Z")
My personal theory is that the Grinch is simply an emaciated Belle in her old age. It makes it so much more poignant when she carves the Roast Beast. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/14 "2007-10-31T18:34:25Z")
I always thought it was just he and he alone. Due to “_You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch_…” I assumed it was his surname. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/15 "2007-10-31T18:37:37Z")
[QUOTE=Lionne] I always thought it was just he and he alone. Due to “_You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch_…” I assumed it was his surname. [/QUOTE] So what’s his first name? And what is his species? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/16 "2007-10-31T18:39:24Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] My personal theory is that the Grinch is simply an emaciated Belle in her old age. It makes it so much more poignant when she carves the Roast Beast. [/QUOTE] Wow. Talk about having a rough menopause… ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/17 "2007-10-31T18:39:42Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] So what’s his first name? [/quote] _The_? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/18 "2007-10-31T18:47:10Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] _The_? [/QUOTE] :smack: ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/19 "2007-10-31T19:00:39Z")
😉 ---
**Author:** ![A.I.Wintermute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@A.I.Wintermute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.I.Wintermute)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743/20 "2007-10-31T19:01:25Z")
The Lorax was also rather singular. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grinchy-questions/424743.md?page=2)