gonch

English

Alternative forms

• gotch, ginch, gitch, gonchies, gotchies, ginchies, gitchies

Etymology

From gitch, a variation of gotch, from Ukrainian га́чі (háči), ґа́чі pl (gáči).

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒntʃ

Noun

gonch

1. (Alberta and British Columbia, slang) Men's brief-style underwear.

   I better do laundry tonight, I'm going to need some clean gonch in the morning

   • 1996, Richard Van Camp, The Lesser Blessed‎^[1], Douglas & McIntyre, published 1996, →ISBN:

     He was standing in his gonch with his big belly hanging over.

   • 2005, Robert Arthur Strandquist, A Small Dog Barking: Stories, Anvil Press, published 2005, →ISBN, page 29:

     He rented a room in his old neighbourhood and relaxed in his gonch.

   • 2012, Savanna Fox, The Dirty Girls Book Club‎^[2], Berkley, published 2012, →ISBN:

     “So long as the ad's masculine and not too arty. Arty works for metrosexuals and gays, but not guys who think of themselves as 'real men.' Maybe have him in his gonch doing stuff like sharpening his skate blades.”

Usage notes

Used in British Columbia and Alberta. Gitch and gotch are variants heard east of Alberta. It is also acceptable to append -ies to any of these variants as a diminutive (like Johnny versus John), especially when referring to the underwear of male children. Gonch is both the singular and plural form: I had a pair of gonch in hand. The rest of my gonch were in the drawer The term is becoming more widespread in use as a result of the rise in popularity of Vancouver-based undergarment company GinchGonch. A gotch-pull or gonch-pull is another name for a wedgie. The term is also used in compound words. Long-gonch is another term for long, winter men's underwear. A gonch-rotter is a release of virulent flatulence, implying that the virulence destroys the underwear.

References

• “gaunch", "gonch", "gotch", "gotchies", "ginch", "gitch” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Barber, Katherine. "11 Favourite Regionalisms Within Canada", in David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace (2005). The Book of Lists, Canadian Edition. Knopf. →ISBN.

Anagrams

• Chong