When you and I send out invitations to events we are hosting, we typically include at the bottom of the invitation certain initials. "RSVP" is what we customarily print at the bottom of our invitations. It's an abbreviation for a French phrase, which means, "Please respond."
It's always disappointing, of course, when someone we had wanted to include in an event is unable to attend. But at least we want to know. We need to know who is coming and who is not. It is common practice to ask people to respond to invitations. "RSVP" — please respond.
Some of the things that we get in the mail or that we pick up to read do not require a response. A lot of what we read is purely informational. Some is just for our interest or amusement. Some pieces of mail get almost no attention from us at all be…