This week’s word of the week is TABANCA.
I first heard the word tabanca from a Trini friend. He was describing a friend if his who had, uncharacteristically, taken to staying late at the bar to drink his sorrows away. ‘But we found out he had a tabanca so it was ok.‘ He said. I said, ‘What? He had a what?’
As my friend and WiWords.com, my fave site on Caribbean patois and slang explained, a tabanca is ‘An inability to get over a relationship. The feeling of loss, rejection and sorrow that follows a breakup.’
Well, who hasn’t had a tabanca at least once in their life? But, it turns out that you can also have a tabanca over other things as well. Over a place, a situtation or a circumstance. For instance, internationally known soca artist Bunji Garlin dropped a song that explained the sadness one feels after carnival ends called CARNIVAL TABANCA. So for all those now coming back from Trinidad Carnival and trying to adjust back to real life, this one’s for you…
