Writer Lang Leav, who enjoys a huge following in the Philippines, was the subject of some good-natured ribbing after a courier service appeared to mimic her poetry.
It all started a few days ago when a certain @call_me_jas0n tweeted a message that he received from a Lazada courier, which went:
“Good day! This is
From Lazada
We would like to inform you
That your parcel
Will deliver
Today
Thank you”
The humor was not lost on the netizen and joked that Leav is now “jobless” because of the courier’s ability to write in pseudo-poetry.
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Leav thought it was amusing and tweeted back, “Lang Leav found jobless after selling millions of books.”
But some people assumed that Leav was offended by Lazada’s “poem,” with @ifyouseekkae telling the best-selling author, “[G]irl, it’s a joke. Do you live in a cave? This *sshole.”
gerl, joke kasi yun nakatira ka ba sa kweba? lecheng to
— kæ (@ifyouseekkae) November 18, 2020
A certain @heymundster wrote, “Girl, you’re such a busy-body.”
gurl epal ka talaga kahit kelan
— ً (@heymundster) November 18, 2020
A certain @NinangBee tried to explain what the Lazada message stood for (Leav totally gets the humor, girl).
“[H]uhuhu dearest Lang Leav. [I]n the Philippines, we call it a ‘meme.’ It is nothing to do against you, but it is like praising the delivery guy by the way he sent the message. [W]e Filipinos, love you so much that you became our ‘standard for poetry,'” she wrote.
huhuhu dearest Lang Leav..
in the Philippines we call it a ‘meme’. It is nothing to do against you but it is like praising the delivery guy by the way he sent the message.
we Filipinos, love you so much that you became our ‘standard for poetry’ ♥
— Ninang ng Bayan 🇵🇭 (@NinangBee) November 19, 2020
Leav shared an article yesterday that summarized the whole brouhaha, prompting one fan to write to her, “Ms. Langleav, I’m so sorry about how Filipinos can be so complicated and how our local ‘showbiz media’ sensationalises (sic) things. I don’t ask for your understanding because there is no excuse for this behaviour (sic) but, I do want to ask for your forgiveness.”
Ms. Langleav, I’m so sorry about how Filipinos can be so complicated and how our local “showbiz media” sensationalises things. I don’t ask for your understanding because there is no excuse for this behaviour but, I do want to ask for your forgiveness.
— Mika Zilla (@mikamakisushi) November 19, 2020
But Leav thought it was all just a tempest in a teapot. “Nothing to forgive! I love how extra your culture is. It’s so quirky and awesome. The world loves you,” she wrote back.
Nothing to forgive! I love how extra your culture is. It’s so quirky and awesome. The world loves you ♥️
— Lang Leav (@langleav) November 19, 2020
The writer, who has been to the country several times, has urged her fans to donate to the Philippine Red Cross to help those affected by Typhoon Vamco, which has destroyed thousands of homes in different parts of Luzon.
Leav was born in a Thai refugee camp after her family fled the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. She grew up in Australia, where she first enjoyed mainstream success via her 2013 book Love and Misadventure. In February 2019, she called out Filipino writer Mookie Kaitgback-Lacuesta, who wrote an article describing the former as “moneyed enough” to wear a “string of pearls.”
The Australian poet said that Lacuesta’s piece was “cringeworthy,” and the necklace was a gift from her mother when she was still a struggling artist.
“I wear it for luck at all my events. Perhaps focus less on giving backhanded compliments and more on being a professional journalist,” Leav wrote.
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