Dear Grammer Genious,
What does “RSVP” stand for? I've been advising clients on the ceremonial customs and obligatory practices regarding the use of RSVP on formal invitations for many years now, but I have never known what the letters actually represent. When I was younger, nobody seemed to know the answer, and now I can't ask anyone since the question might reveal ignorance and negatively impact my celebrity status.
Last night I had a dreadful nightmare that I was being interviewed on TV by Ty Pennington, or Mike Rowe, or Ryan Seacrest, and they asked me what RSVP stands for and then shoved the microphone in my face, and there I was looking like an idiot. Please advise.
Signed, Fairfax Higginbotham – “Wedding Planner To the Stars”
Dear Fairfax,
You can relax because nobody knows what the letters stand for. The use of RSVP is very ancient; it may represent an Akkadian word meaning something like "head-count," and there was an Egyptian hieroglyphic sign for it, shaped like a martini glass.
Many people will hasten to give you some pat explanation, but they are just empty-headed dupes who are passing on folklore that someone told them, usually that the letters represent some "French phrase." First of all, why French? La-de-da! And secondly, the idea is patently absurd on its face, because abbreviations are not used in French. Can you think of any abbreviations in French? Well, there you are then.
Someone will always make up some urban myth ("It's French!") and then all the wannabe know-it-alls clamber onto the bandwagon, and then it becomes something that "everybody knows." Just remember that these are the same sorts of people who will tell you that t-shirts are so called "because they're shaped like the letter T." Yeah, right. ALL shirts are shaped like the Letter T! Duh!
If asked during a TV broadcast, just smile charmingly and say with complete confidence that you have no idea what RSVP stands for.
The Grammer Genious
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