SMART TALK SMART TALK
By  Nurse “Gabby” Johnson

PLEASE R.S.V.P.: Underbelly, Texas’s Oliver F. Winchester Elementary School recently sent open house invitations to us at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired. Fifth and sixth graders planned to serve snacks, so the invitations ended, “Please R.S.V.P.”

The letters stand for Répondez, s’il vous plaît, French for “Reply, please.” Please R.S.V.P., therefore, means “Please, reply please.” It’s redundant and sounds like begging.

The invitation should have just said, R.S.V.P., or better yet, at least for Underbelly, “Please reply.”

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