I think that may be the first time I’ve seen a dictionay definition showing an acronym that is spelled out instead of being pronounced as a word, but still conjugated in the spelled-out form. Is there a word for that?
Or online if you feel HTTP protocol is secure enough for you.
It gives the meaning of RSVP as a normal verb, not necessarily as an imperative form (which is what’s on an invitation).
Why use RSVP anymore at all? Just put “Respond, if you please” on all your cotillion invites from now on.
Am I wrong to be irked when our local PBS radio station gives an announcement of, say, a seminar on possum smoking, then follows it with “RSVP is required” or “RSVP at norsablab.com”? It seems inappropriate to use “RSVP” for a public announcement, since obviously they don’t want thousands of people responding with “Mrs. Stinkwort and I will not be attending.”
Is your goal to be absolutely proper?
R.s.v.p.
Is your goal to politely request your invited guests to respond, in such a way that they will be sure to understand?
Please RSVP
Would you like to just avoid the whole damn issue?
Please respond by [date] to let [me/us] know whether or not you will be able to attend.
“The courtesy of a response is requested.”
This would be my choice, because it sounds nicely formal and polite, but unfortunately the words “courtesy” and “requested” imply that you needn’t respond unless you feel like it. Too many people are already inclined in this direction, IMHO.
So no. Not redundant.
However “with au jus” sure as hell is.
No - I do not want my roast beef with with juice.
Depends, is it pointing to an ASP page or a JSP page?
Whichever. You still won’t need your SSN number.
How many people today know that “from whence” is redundant? From the evidence, about one in a hundred. This is the way the language works.
For an eye-opening account of the depth of redundancy in English and other languages, read The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind’s Greatest Invention, by Guy Deutscher.
And BTW, using the last word of an acronym to follow the acronym is absolutely correct. Not a widespread mistake, but the proper way to handle a usage that has become common in and of itself. That’s why there are so many examples of it. It’s like finding examples where the subject and verb agree. Of course there will be many.
What about going to the La Brea Tar Pits?
“La Brea” is Spanish for “tar” (or “the tar”), so “the La Brea Tar Pits” could be construed as “the the tar tar pits”
I’m usually a bit of a grammar nazi, but just putting ‘RSVP’ seems too demanding somehow.
‘Please RSVP’ just feels right, even though it is redundant.
Redundancy in language is no crime, and often needed.
For instance: “Do you have a PIN?” and “Do you have a PIN Number?” are asking about two different things if spoken.
Or, “I work at NBT.” What occupation is that? But “I work at NBT Bank” makes it clear.
Or asking about the Rio Grande River?
Which is a 20 oz. sparkling water at a Spanish Starbuck’s.
In happier news, it turns out this thread isn’t redundant. I couldn’t search earlier (kept timing out) but I was sure I would get 15 wags offering links to identical earlier threads.
I just searched for RSVP myself and found only 15, mostly rants about people ignoring the instruction.
Yay!
On the further subject of redundant things, chai tea. “Chai” just means “tea;” the actual name of it is “masala chai” (spice-blend tea).
I still can’t stand the sound of ATM Machine and PIN Number. And I work at a bank. I hear that a lot. ugh.
Short of “The favour of a reply is demanded,” or just “Answer this invitation!”, that’s about as direct as you can really get.