RSVP & “disgusting”
by V.E. on July 30th, 2008
I have two word stories today that were both inspired by work relations. First, “RSVP” and then, “disgusting”.
RSVP
Last night (July 29), the Conservancy (the organization that runs Brooklyn Bridge Park) and the Development Corporation (the organization that is building the Park) co-hosted a “thank you” party for all the people who made the creation of the Pier 1 temporary park possible and all the people who have helped keep it open this summer. The Pier 1 park serves as two things. First, it’s the only place on land that a person can see all four New York City Waterfalls all at once. Second, it’s a preview of the greater park that is currently under construction and some of which should be open by Autumn 2009 (assuming everything goes as planned, of course).
Anyway, I was the contact person for the party, and folks were supposed to RSVP to me via email or phone to let me know whether or not they’d be attending. It was important because we (the Conservancy) were picking up the food and drinks bill, and my boss needed to know how many people to plan for. I was keeping track of the replies to the invitation, but I would get emails like this:
Please RSVP me and a +1 for this event.
and
Please accept my RSVP to this event on Tuesday, July 29th.
and
I would like to RSVP for 2
and
I would like to RSVP for this event. Thank you!
… but you know what? That kind of reply doesn’t tell me anything, and I’ll tell you why.
RSVP is a French abbreviation which stands for répondez, s’il vous plaît which means “please reply” in English. When someone asks you to RSVP, the correct answer is one of two: “Yes, I will attend” or “No, I can’t make it” or some variation of one of those responses.
The correct answer is not “I would like to RSVP for this event” because my response to that statement is “That’s nice. Are you coming, or not?” I realize I’m being somewhat anal-retentive here, but it’s important to use words correctly or people don’t understand and that’s how wars begin—when people don’t understand each other. I understood what these people meant, but I’m an educated young woman… not everyone is as educated as I am, so please please know what you’re saying when you say it. It makes me cringe when people use words incorrectly.
— — — —
“disgusting”
… Speaking of using words incorrectly… One Thursday evening a couple of weeks ago, I was doing a double shift helping out at one of the movie nights the Conservancy does every summer. I don’t remember the movie (I shoveled popcorn into little bags behind the concession stand the whole time), but after it was over, I helped take some stuff back to the office so that we’d have access to it and it wouldn’t get stolen before the next time we needed it. One of the interns was driving our boss’s car and I sat in the passenger seat holding stuff down in the back so that nothing was broken on our way over to the office. On our way back, we had to take a short piece of the BQE, which affords a really great view of the Manhattan skyline. Being after midnight, all the buildings were lit up and it was stunning.
We were talking about some random thing and the intern (a young woman a bit younger than me) interrupted me to say, “Oh my God. That’s disgusting. Just look at that skyline. It’s fucking disgusting. I can’t believe we live here and get to see stuff like that every night. We are so lucky.” I was confused. I said, “Um… yeah, right” and we went back to talking about whatever it was we were talking about. I didn’t think it was a disgusting view; I thought it was beautiful. Her statement seemed to contradict itself (being disgusting and being lucky don’t really mesh well in my mind) but I just let it go.
Later, I looked it up and discovered that some people use the word “disgusting” the same way “sick” is sometimes used. Merriam-Webster has the traditional definition—the one that I’m used to—but Urban Dictionary has the intern’s definition part way down the page as:
(adj)
To be incredibly talented or adept at performing some task or feat.
To be of the highest possible quality.I saw this band on Saturday that had a xylophone player and he was disgusting. OR
Bro, your new car is absolutely disgusting.
and further down the page as:
absolutely excellent. derived from bad meaning good. uk london
that new tune by redman is digusting man!
So, in context, I agree with the intern—the Manhattan skyline at night is disgusting… though I would never use that word like that, just like I don’t use the word “sick” to mean “awesome” or “cool”… In this case, I’m less irritated by the change in meaning (“awful” after all, used to mean something similar to what “awesome” means today—literally ‘awe-full’) or its usage than I was in the first story. The intern was using the word correctly—if she defines it the way I did here. If she defines it the traditional way, though, then I’m still confused and she needs to go back to school.
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.