gonch

n. underpants or panties; chones. Subjects: English, Canada, Apparel, Appearance, & Fashion, Slang

Editorial Note: According to Katherine Barber of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, as quoted in the Edmonton Journal in 2004, this word takes a variety of spellings: “In Saskatchewan, it’s gauch, gitch or gotch, but in Alberta it’s gaunch, ginch and gonch. On the Alberta side of Lloydminster, people suddenly get an ‘n’ in their underwear, and we have no idea why.“ Ginch Gonch is a brand name of stylish underwear, begun in 2004. An unrelated gonch is a gonch hook used to lift the lid of a Dutch oven, a large pot used for outdoor cooking.

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Citations: 1991 [Michael McAleese] @ Canada Usenet: rec.games.frp (Nov. 19) “Humorous Story (Part Two)”: “Didja see the way I incapacitated him with my monkish gaunch pull?“ cried Dingbat excitedly. There was a pause. “Uh, Dingbat, he’s not wearing a gaunch.“ 1992 Usenet: k12.chat.senior (Nov. 20) “Hi!”: We go to bingo then get together for a spirited game of gonch pull, or more commonly know as—wedgee. 1996 [Lauria Blackwell] @ Canada Usenet: alt.usage.english (July 10) “Re: underwear = underpants?”: Around here (Saskatchewan, Canada), gautch (gauch?) is a fairly commonly understood, perhaps slightly vulgar, word for underwear. It is usually used for male underpants, but can also stand for panties and even be extended to bras etc. Ginch is sort of an extension of this as well as gotchies, ginchies, ginchy-gotchies, and similar words. 1996 Audrey Gostlin’s Inside Fashion (Mar. 19) “Gaunch launch” vol. 10, no. 7,: Gaunch launch.…West Vancouver’s Kathleen Staples recently launched a new line of luxurious machine washable underwear called Staples. Staples designs them in soft, stretchy knitted silk and included are regular panties, bikinis and sexy boxers in the traditional cut-off longjohn style. 2002 Gary Mason Vancouver Sun (British Columbia, Canada) (Feb. 9) “Postcard from Salt Lake” p. F2: Today’s subject is gonch. Also known to many of you as underwear. 2004 Steve Tilley Toronto Sun (Canada) (Apr. 4) “It’s Far Out!; The Best Single-Player Shooter Since Half-Life” p. S20: Be sure to shake the sand out of your gonch afterward. It itches something fierce.

Posted 27 Sep 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Gotch (gauch) I never saw it spelled out but we pronounced it as written above away back in Red Lake District High School in North Western Ontario in the late 1950s (1958-1960). Referred strictly to boys underwear. Generally jockey shorts. Nothing vulgar about it then. Hadn’t seen it used until today on your website.

by James Watt 28 Sep 06, 0404 GMT

I lived in an anglophone section of Montreal during the late 1960’s, and we referred to our undershorts as “gotchies”, an interesting pluralization of the Saskatchewan usage. Come to think about it, many terms referring to underwear are plurals referring to a single item: panties, drawers, BVDs, shorts, briefs, etc. Does anyone know why?

by Stephen Grasser 28 Sep 06, 1148 GMT

Growing up just east of Ottawa, Ontario, I’d always heard it as “gotch” (as James notes, there was never really any occasion to see it spelled out) as well.

by Rob Cottingham 02 Oct 06, 0210 GMT

I should have mentioned in my comment above that we also used the singular and plural (gotchies or gauchies) indistintively.

by James Watt 02 Oct 06, 0237 GMT

Gonch is a slang term for a vagina.

by Greg Alan 06 Nov 06, 1106 GMT

In the movie “Ginger Snaps” (2000) the younger sister, Bridgette, says “I can see your gonch!“ while photographing her older sister, Ginger.
I didn’t know what it meant and google guided me here.
(BTW, from the way it was pronounced I first searched for “gaunch”.)
Thanks for the definition.
—M

by Michael Damkier 23 Jun 07, 1059 GMT

Folks! Is not one Polish or Slavic around here? Gotchies are “underpants” in the language! Every kid with those roots grew up using that word. I would assume this is a variation, and maybe that’s even where the vagina thing came from…skewing the word from “gotchie.“

by john donovan 27 Jun 07, 0458 GMT