How is the word 'gullet' understood by non-medical English speakers?

It is common for many anatomical words that belong to almost all animals to be thought of as only belonging to only a few. Turkeys have their gullets addressed each holiday by the cook. That those who feast on the results also have them is not always clear. My favorite is the notion that only beetles have a thorax. Though it could be most of their body it is just a region as it is in humans where thoracic surgery is a large subject. Each part of the throat in humans can almost always be found in other critters, the closer they are evolutionally the more likely.

According to thefreedictionary on epiglottis "Swallowing closes the opening to the trachea [windpipe, front of the neck below the chin] by placing the larynx [flap] against the epiglottis. This prevents food and drink from entering the larynx and trachea, directing it instead into the esophagus" and to the stomach.

The gullet is the tube going from just below the vocal chords to the stomach. It is used less medically to mean anywhere between the mouth and the stomach, even to include the stomach where the food rests.