Gauche
Gauche
Definition: lacking ease or grace, unsophisticated or socially awkward.
Parts of Speech: adjective, noun, adverb
gauche-adjective
guachness-noun
gauchley-adverb
Synonyms: awkward, gawky, inelegant, ungraceful, klutzy, inept
Antonyms: elegant, sophisticated
Gauche, originated from a mid-18th century French word, gauche, which literally means “left,” is an adjective used to describe something or someone that is, well, awkward. It has a rather negative connotation, and is usually used as an insult. In fact, in Victorian times, there was a stigma against left-handed people, and as evidenced by the word gauche, displaying left hand dominance was something to be looked down upon. It is somewhat of a highfalutin word, and one unintended consequence of using it is that the speaker may come off as somewhat pompous; if you describe something as gauche in an effort to appear posh, you may only end up appearing pretentious.
Unlike its synonym awkward, gauche implies a sense of garishness. Whereas awkward is usually meant to describe someone who seems ill at ease in social situations-for instance, a freshman at his first ever high school party, or, actually, almost all high school freshman boys-gauche is a type of classlessness. Picture someone wearing overalls to a black tie event. Or, worse yet, someone using the wrong utensil at the dinner table during said black tie event. I mean, can you believe Katherine used her dessertspoon to drink her soup? And the slurping! Gauche is similar to inelegant in that regard. It usually conveys the sense that someone is not prepared with the social grace for the situation, often times due to differences in socioeconomic class.
Although gawky and klutzy are both listed as synonyms for gauche, they are not the most precise synonyms. Gawky is often related to physical characteristics. In fact, gawky is often used to describe adolescents that are still growing into their bodies. For instance, tall, lanky teenage boys are often described as gawky. It is sometimes even associated with the word nerdy or geeky. Klutzy, on the other hand, is usually meant to describe someone ungraceful. It conveys the sense that the person in question is prone to falling and tripping, awkward in the sense he or she doesn’t have complete control of his or her body yet. Gauche, however, doesn’t have to be associated with movement at all.
Does anyone remember that phase in middle school (or maybe it was early high school) where everyone was busy trying to be “awkward” and “unique?” Where phrases like “oh my god I am so awkward all I do is watch Netflix…Netflix is life and I love nutella and food and oh my god my boyfriend is food!!!!” No? Just me? OK.
Anyways, I distinctly remember a period of my secondary education where it was “cool” to pretend like you were socially inept, and socially inept in this case really meant to say that you watched copious amounts of television and used Tumblr to steal Nietzche quotes that you would then tweet out. I’m proud to say that I never really engaged in any of these behaviors. I’m mortified to say that I engaged in behaviors far more egregious. While everyone else was busy trying to be “DeEp” and insightful, I was busy trying to distinguish myself as far above these plebeians. I used words like plebeians, gauche and I think at one point I told a boy I loathed him, except he heard it as “I love you, Gabriel” and pithily responded with, “What the hell. Gross.” Anyways, I was a little Asian girl from suburban Pennsylvania pretending like she was a Vanderbilt, a lost member from the upper echelons of society that had been haphazardly misplaced among the gentry. I wore black slacks to school (even on days when we had PE and I would pair them with clunky athletic shoes) and did my hair up in a chignon (even though it inevitably succumbed to the effects of gravity by lunch, and I was left with a cascading mess of hair dangling from multiple bobby pins) and had this god-awful teal cardigan that I would pair with a white oxford that was too big on me. One time I think I even wore a blazer to middle school and strutted around saying, It’s Anne Kle-ein.
It is amazing to say at this point that I actually was not bullied. I’m sure my classmates thought I was weird, but I thought they were all gauche so really all was fair in love and war, and mostly people left me alone. I remember reading one of my report card comments from my homeroom teacher that said I was “a 40 year old stuck in a 13 year old’s body” and feeling so pleased with myself, titillated at the thought of sprouting grey hairs and getting a mortgage.
This is why I never touch my middle school diary
Works Consulted
LePressentiment. “Why Does ‘gauche’ Connote Negativity in English and French?” Etymology. Stack Exchange Inc., 16 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. <https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/11757/why-does-gauche-connote-negativity-in-english-and-french>.
Wordsinasentence. “WordsinaSentence.com.” WordsinaSentencecom. Wordsinasentence.com, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. <http://wordsinasentence.com/gauche-in-a-sentence/>.
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One Response to “Gauche”
I loved this post! You write in a very engaging voice and the anecdotes that relate the word to your life are funny to read. Seriously, I almost laughed out loud at one point. Also, I really like your last sentence – it’s perfect.