Tambaloslos

 

Tambaloslos is a folklore from the Central Visayas as well as in the Cebuano speaking regions in Mindanao. It is a male mischievous mythical creature with a big head and a large mouth that is a denizen of the woods. It plays prank to people who stray into its territory by having them become disoriented. It is delighted to see its victim become confused and lost, and its excitement makes its mouth become bigger so that its entire face would be covered. The only way for the victim to regain his bearings is to take his shirt off and then put it back on inside out. The Bicol region has a lustful version of the tambaloslos because it prefers women to be its victims. In its usual way, it disorients its victim and again, the only way for her to escape from the situation is to take off her clothes and put it back on inside out. When she undresses the tambaloslos upon seeing her breast becomes sexually aroused causing its genital to erect and become bigger until it reaches up to his face and block its vision. In that instance the power of the tambaloslos to control her is lost, and it would also be her opportune time to quickly get out of harm’s way in the woods.

In the literary sense, the word “tambaloslos” is used to mean a useless, unreliable, and inept male person. It is seldom used to refer to a woman. Tambaloslos is a slang word in The Cebuano language. It is a vulgar word and is not used in a polite and formal conversation. Saying the word in such a situation indicates a lack of good taste on the part of the speaker. In rare instances people say it to elicit a humorous effect. The suffix “loslos “is a slang term for the male genital. It is maybe for this reason that the word “Tambaloslos” has not finds its way to acceptance in formal conversational usage even though the tales of tambaloslos is as old as the Visayan culture. “Tambaloslos kang daku!”is a sentence in Cebuano that is somewhat like “You’re such a dimwit!” or something to that effect.

In recent times, the tambaloslos myth has spread nationwide through politics and amplified by social media such as Facebook, You Tube, and others, Now, the word tambaloslos is not only known to the places where it came from, but also all over the Philippines so that it becomes a byword to some people especially if they talk pejoratively on a political personality. Saying “tambaloslos” is not euphonic, hearing the word alone even if one does not know its meaning or origin is not pleasant to his ears.