In England the locals have a term for when something distresses them.
Gutted.
I have always used the word to mean the removal of the innards of an animal or a vegetable or even a mineral if you count the stuff my father used to get into.
He would regularly gut the contents of the toaster, radio, the bonnet of his car, the vacuum cleaner, you get my drift, when he was in repair-mode.
A house or any other edifice, assailed by fire would be considered gutted too in my book of not so long ago!
It wasn’t until Daughts went to her performing arts school in Essex that I heard the term used to express an emotion, not of a prepared fish or other edible, of a person who was suffering from a…disappointment… say.
Where Daughts lived for a year it is pronounced
“Gah-Id”
No ‘T’s’ please we’re Essex-ish.
I looked it up in the urban dictionary on-line and found these innocuous definitions for the slang word:
- bad luck
- shame, and
- ouch
To my mind these words in no way express the feeling of being emptied out experienced by the guttee!
I found an amusing article by lynneguist from 2009 where she hits the nail right on the head, with the Oxford English Dictionary, for a more accurate meaning of the word:
- Bitterly Disappointed
- Devastated
- Shattered
- Highly Distressed
- Utterly fed-up
Much more evocative don’t you think?
I’ve yet to hear it used in this context in America, for us gutted simply means…
well… gutted!
Two countries separated by a common language. (George Bernard Shaw)
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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