Balimbing

I wrote a post about Teofisto Guingona last Monday and had a hard time thinking about the English word for “balimbing.” The next day I sent a SMS message to all of my friends and asked them for the English word of it. Here are the responses that I got:

1. “Traitor? Hehehe! Dko alam eh.”
2. “Friend tito sotto pla! Hahaha!”
3. Political butterfly
4. “Not included. No permanent friend. Turn 2d left turn 2d right. Pick ur choice. Bkit m ask? Ayos kba jan?” *Ano daw!
5. Taking both sides
6. Political turncoat?
7. Turncoat
8. “Balimbing kc is d same as a traitor so u can refer to it as “turncoat.” Cenxa n sa late reply. Nyt.”
9. “Star fruit, English ng balimbing.”
10. Bias

…And the correct answer is turncoat (n. One who traitorously switches allegiance.)