Gauche- Daily Word №15
Watercolour? I’m down the wrong lane…
Today’s word has nothing to do with watercolours. gauche has a double meaning: it can refer to a person who is awkward or lacking in social graces, but also means someone who is innocent, pure and quirky. Someone free of societal norms.
Looking Deeper
gauche is borrowed from the French word gauche which means ‘awkward’. During a period of its development, it actually had a meaning relating to ‘trample’.
Many believe gauche to have a negative implication, since they assume someone who feels uncomfortable in the company of other people is also someone who is clumsy and unsophisticated. As likely as those traits may occur together, one does not mean the other. I therefore prefer to understand this delicate word as someone who is acts differently from the social norms normally present.
Using ‘gauche’ in a Sentence
Describing people with this word might not be the best idea, so maybe we could limit its use to fictional characters.
“We were all gauche once, when we were younger.”
