As you all know we now have numerous ways to contact people—telephone, text, email, Skype, Facetime, IM, regular mail, Facebook, Twitter, Snap Chat and, of course, face-to-face visits. One would think with all of these innovative, highly convenient, practically instant methods of communication, the rate of return on RSVPs would be on the rise. Not so. It is at a dreadful, miserable all-time low, shattering etiquette books to smithereens and sending Miss Manners dangerously close to her deathbed.
For the record, let’s define RSVP just so we are all on the same page. This paragraph is also a public service announcement for those who have either forgotten or have never fully understood what those four letters in that particular order mean. Officially, the acronym RSVP originated in France and stands for répondez s’il vous plaît, which translated, is simply, “Respond, please.”