What’s in the name? – ‘Platsak Cuca Shop’

The colourful shebeens of Namibia outdo each other with wacky names. ‘Platsak Cuca Shop’ in Rehoboth must be one of the most descriptive.

When travelling in the North, I never tire from discovering the creative shebeen names which I haven’t seen before. Some of my favourites over the years have been ‘Down Corruption Bar’, ‘One-leg Bar’ and ‘Lost Key Bar’.

‘Platsak’ meaning ‘broke’ or ‘penniless’ was a new one. It most probably originated from the Dutch word ‘platzak’ and directly translated means that your bag is flat or empty. The term stemmed from the old days when people carried their coins in small bags or pouches and it remained in use over the centuries, making its way into the expressive Afrikaans language.

And as for ‘cuca’: before the informal taverns became known as shebeens, they were called cuca shops from the Angolan CUCA beer – Companhia União de Cervejas de Angola (United Beer Company of Angola) that was established in 1947 and still exists today. Illegal in the rest of the country from the mid-70s to the 1980s, Cuca beer flowed freely in the northern regions bordering Angola.

Interestingly, the words used together in the name of this shebeen – ‘Platsak Cuca Shop’ – invite those who are hard-up in for a drink.

(Reference: Cuca beer – Wikipedia)