What kind of object is こんだら?


I was listening the the opening theme of the animation 巨人の星. I was able to
pick up the first part.

[code]

    重いこんだら
    
[/code]

I understand that `重い` (heavy) is a relative clause modifying `こんだら`. What is
こんだら? It should be something heavy, I guess. Is it related to コンドル? Or, is it
a type of ゴンドラ?




In the context of that song, 「思い込む」 does not mean "to be convinced".

> It means along the line of "to make a firm resolution".




コンダラ is a slangy word for a man-powered "land roller" to flatten the grounds,
like this one.

![Kondara](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IeL1J.jpg)

Although the "correct" name of this tool is "(整地【せいち】)ローラー" or something,
there are a few high school students who actually call this コンダラ. Even
Japanese Wikipedia has the [entry for
コンダラ](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80%E3%83%A9).

* * *

Yes, I'm only half kidding. What is really said in that song is "思い込んだら" (=
_if (you are) determined_ ), not "重いコンダラ".

But you are not the only person who misinterpreted it as 重いコンダラ.

Actually there were great many native Japanese people who heard that song and
wondered, "What's コンダラ? It must be something heavy, used by little leaguers?
Oh I got it, it's the name of that roller!"

This error became a very famous joke, repeated on the radio and TV many times
in the past. And some people actually started to call this コンダラ. And now, at
last, there are people who call this just コンダラ and don't know why it's コンダラ!

You can show the picture above and ask "what's the name of this?", and I'm
sure many people will answer "definitely it's コンダラ", jokingly or seriously.
The following is a real question made by a native Japanese speaker who wanted
to know the etymology of コンダラ.

運動場を平らにする時に使う大きなローラーをコンダラと言ってましたが、何語なのか、さっぱり分かりません。一応色んな言葉の辞書は見ました。  
<http://q.hatena.ne.jp/1256308673>

And you can read the article
[コンダラ](http://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80%E3%83%A9) in
pixiv百科事典, which describes this word rather seriously.

* * *

**Edit** : Putting the joke aside, 「思い込む」 here may be a bit confusing. In this
context, 「思い込む」 means "strongly determine (one's way of living)", not "one's
(erroneous) assumption".

