It's a sad, sad day to open a beautifully engraved invitation with one of my pet peeves printed right in the middle of the page. It says "Please R.S.V.P."
What the sender is saying is "Please, respond, please". They might as well be saying "purty please". Doesn't that make the sender sound just a little bit desperate?
And no, it's not OK to write Please R.S.V.P. because we're in America. Sorry. The following reference comes The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005:
R.S.V.P. is a French abbreviation of répondez, s'il vous plait, meaning respond, if you please.
The next time you feel the urge to beg your guests to respond to your invitation, simply say "R.S.V.P. by...", or "Please respond by...".
I hope you enjoyed this little lesson from the Department of Redundancy Department.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
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