Actually my interpretation of the word may be more personal than national. I looked it up in the dictionary and it gives gutters around the bottom of a sloping roof as the first entry and gutters for rainwater at the side of the road as a second entry.

It's more about the first image that comes into my head probably because we had a gutter that was inclined to fill up with leaves, thus causing a flood of water through the bay window ceiling - I have obviously been deeply sensitised!