#AskHelenZille — Climbing the trends

South Africans are once again proving the amplification of their Twitter reach. This time it’s with Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, who has inadvertently inspired a humourous Twitter trending topic after she asked members of the public to tweet her their questions.

Zille is famous for responding to questions on Twitter and has been quoted as encouraging users to tweet their questions to her. The questions being asked today, however, probably aren’t what she was expecting when she made the open invitation. It’s also unlikely that this is kind of trending topic she hoped to become the focus of.

The hashtag, #AskHelenZille, which South Africans have taken to extremes, began with Twitter user and popular South African “musical comedian” @Deepfriedman who tweeted:

“My new advice column, ‘Ask @helenzille’. In which Helen Zille helps answer life’s difficult questions. Or ignores them.”

He then followed the introductory tweet with a series of tweets baring the #askhelenzille hastag.

In the last few hours, Zille has been asked questions from the answer to Ultimate question in the universe, the deep and confusing circumstances of Ross and Rachel’s breakup and Chinese tattoos.

Of course the famed question and answer popularised by Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy made an appearance:

Popular television show Friends‘ infamous cloudy breakup circumstances even made the list of questions thrown at Zille:

Popular rock group Greenday made the list too:

Zille later responded: