# Who knows what a "gully washer" is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193 "2018-04-26T22:36:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/1 "2018-04-26T22:36:40Z")
…well anybody? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/2 "2018-04-26T22:38:56Z")
Sure. I even use that term when appropriate ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/3 "2018-04-26T22:39:00Z")
Heavy rain. edited to spoiler, ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/4 "2018-04-26T22:40:09Z")
A hard rainstorm that comes down fast and often leads to flash flooding in low-lying areas. Leading to the name. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/5 "2018-04-26T22:40:27Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Heavy rain. > > edited to spoiler, Yup. I’ve been known to use that phrase from time to time. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/6 "2018-04-26T22:44:24Z")
In a convienance store I frequent it’s a extra-extra large soda for the unbelievable price of $1.99. It’s looks like a gallon size cup. Very big. ( I also know it’s a rain flooded creek bed or ditch, with a fast flow) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/7 "2018-04-26T22:47:08Z")
Never heard it in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/8 "2018-04-26T22:53:15Z")
Being from Texas, it is commonly used there, but I’ve only met a few people outside of Texas that knew the meaning of the term. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/9 "2018-04-26T23:23:01Z")
Sure - it’s the little flat part that’s installed underneath the head of a gully bolt. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/10 "2018-04-26T23:26:47Z")
One who washes a gully. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/11 "2018-04-26T23:47:33Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > One who washes a gully. Luxury. _We_ lived in a _lake_… [/Yorkshire Accent] ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/12 "2018-04-26T23:51:14Z")
Can’t say I would ever use it, but I know what it means. It’s a folksy way to say a mo-fo of a rainstorm. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/13 "2018-04-27T00:02:02Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Never heard it in Canada. Think of an avalanche only with water. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/14 "2018-04-27T00:05:08Z")
I think it is pretty well understood by any country person who lives in the kind of arid region where there are flash floods. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/15 "2018-04-27T00:06:39Z")
Almost anyone in the US over 40 should have known. Kids under 30, maybe not so likely. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/16 "2018-04-27T00:09:46Z")
I know the term; I’m pretty sure that I learned it from my mother. She grew up in a mid-sized town in Wisconsin, but both of her parents had grown up in rural areas, and she has a smattering of “farm terms” in her vocabulary as a result. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/17 "2018-04-27T00:10:49Z")
In Putin’s Russia, gully wash YOU! ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/18 "2018-04-27T00:13:06Z")
We also used the phrase “gully whomper” (born and raised in southern Indiana) ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/19 "2018-04-27T00:40:31Z")
I think a “gully washer” is one of those medieval professions that became obsolete on the path towards modernity, in this case with the invention of the bidet. The position of royal gully washer, the [Groom of the Stool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groom_of_the_Stool), was much sought-after among courtiers due to its close proximity to the king. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193/20 "2018-04-27T00:41:22Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Never heard it in Canada. I got it from Dad, who was 100 per cent Canadian. mmm [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-knows-what-a-gully-washer-is/813193.md?page=2)