1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Streaming TV shows and movies directly to your home is 2 00:00:02,920 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: a breeze with Netflix. As a Netflix member, you can 3 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:09,600 Speaker 1: instantly watch TV and movies on your PC, mac, mobile device, 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,319 Speaker 1: or right on your television. Get a free thirty day 5 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: trial membership. Go to Netflix dot com slash brain Stuff 6 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: and sign up today. Welcome to brain Stuff from house 7 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com where smart happens. Hi Am Marshall 8 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: Brain with today's question, what does rs VP mean? Rs 9 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:38,840 Speaker 1: VP stands for a French phrase respond a cbo play, 10 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: which means please reply. The person sending the invitation would 11 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: like you to tell him or her whether you accept 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: or decline the invitation, that is, will you be coming 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: to the event or not. Etiquette rules followed in most 14 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 1: Western cultures require that if you receive a formal, written invitation, 15 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: you should reply promptly, perhaps that same day. For hosts 16 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: who are planning a dinner party, a wedding, or a reception, 17 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: this is important from their point of view because they 18 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: need to know how many people to count on and 19 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: how much food to buy. More important, though, is the 20 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: simple courtesy of responding to someone who is nice enough 21 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: to invite you, even if it's to say that you 22 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: regret that you won't be able to attend. Many wedding 23 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: invitations come with a response card that you can mail 24 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,839 Speaker 1: back right away. Other written invitations will carry the host 25 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: telephone number, so you can call with your reply. Although 26 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:40,720 Speaker 1: under strict etiquette rules are written invitation requires a written reply. Nowadays, 27 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: invitations often carry a regrets only notation at the end. 28 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: That means that the host will count on your being 29 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,720 Speaker 1: there unless you tell him or her otherwise. Some people 30 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: even use r s v P as a verb, as 31 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: in have you rs VP to that invitation? Yet, you 32 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: might wonder why we used the initials of a French 33 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: phrase and an invitation that's written in English. You could 34 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: say that the French invented etiquette, although that would be 35 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: a simplification because there have always been rules to follow 36 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,959 Speaker 1: in civilization. In fact, an Italian diplomat wrote the first 37 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: book about proper Behavior among nobility in the sixteenth century. 38 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: Many of the practices of Western etiquette, however, came from 39 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: the French court of King Louis the fourteenth in the 40 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries at Versailles his palace. 41 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: Louis the fourteenth had rules for court behavior written on 42 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: what French referred to as tickets. Get it tickets etiquette. 43 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: The tickets either were signs posted at Versailles or were 44 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: the invitations issued to court events with the rules of 45 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 1: behavior printed on the back. Experts give different versions of 46 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: the origin, and French was the language of refinement and 47 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: high society through the nineteenth century in the United States. 48 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: Judith Martin, the author of etiquette books and a syndicated 49 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,959 Speaker 1: newspaper columnists known as Missmanners. Thanks that rs VP came 50 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: about is a polite way of reminding people of something 51 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,399 Speaker 1: that they should already know. If you receive an invitation, 52 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: you should reply for more on this and thousands of 53 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:30,359 Speaker 1: other topics because it has staff works dot com, Streaming 54 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: TV shows and movies directly to your home is a 55 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: breeze with Netflix. As a Netflix member, you can instantly 56 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: watch TV and movies on your PC, mac, mobile device, 57 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: or right on your television. Get a free thirty day 58 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: trial membership. Go to Netflix dot com, slash brain stuff 59 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: and sign up today.