Ph_B (X) (asker) Jan 25, 2019:

Merci pour vos contributions.

Yvonne Gallagher Jan 21, 2019:

@ BDF
NO? I think it does. I also think there are lots of precedents for not sending any greetings at all to victims? Yes, it's a decent thing to do but how often does it happen in real life? As for sending flowers, it could be a dangerous exercise! Too small a bouquet and people would compain about how miserable they are and large=they're trying to buy her off. Because everything is being fed to the gossip columns. Fact is that the insurance companies involved should treat this in the same way as any other minor accident where it's clear who is at fault and just apportion damages to the victim regardless of Philip's status (or wealth). And refuse to reinsure him if it's seen as incompetent or dangerous driving?

B D Finch Jan 21, 2019:

@Yvonne "The palace sends its best wishes for a speedy recovery" would not have been an admission of liability. It would have been the decent thing to have done, and a nice bunch of flowers (but not so lavish it could be seen as an inducement not to sue) wouldn't have gone amiss.

Yvonne Gallagher Jan 21, 2019:

It's not at all archaic and is used by us plebs as well on a regular basis! Basically, as Liz has said, it's just a way of saying: tell them(or him/her) I say hello/send greetings/am thinking of them/haven't forgotten them, and it does not always have to imply warm or best wishes. In the song Scarborough Fair: "Remember me to one who lives there, / She once was a true love of mine." it's clear they are warm greetings and means tell her I remember her fondly.
As Tony said, it can be emotionally neutral and, in this case, is a great way of admitting no liability at all. If the message had been e.g. "the palace sends its warmest greetings and best wishes for a speedy recovery" that would be admitting fault. And Philip hasn't apologised.

Tony M Jan 21, 2019:

@ Daryo Yes, but it's much more subtle than just that! This is a fairly formal and neutral way of 'asking to be remembered to someone' — almost literally 'reminding them of the other party's existence'! It is neutral, as it conveys no emotional content (sorry / best wishes / buzz off, etc.), nor does it in any way admit regret or liability for something that might have happened; legally, one would avoid saying things like 'sorry about the accident', as that could be construed as admitting liability.
So this sort of terminology, quaintly old-fashioned now in everyday speech, rather like "How d'you do?", still has a place in more formal, emotionally-neutral texts such as this one.
If you had run someone over, you wouldn't say "Please say hi! to the victim from me, hope they're feeling a bit better... oh, and please could I have my front bumper back...?"

Daryo Jan 21, 2019:

It all sounds like a roundabout old-fashioned way of simply sending good wishes, as confirmed by this part of the article:

Buckingham Palace said on Saturday that a "full message of support was sent to both the driver and the passenger".

Only minor problem being that commoners and the Palace do not speak the same version of English ... while still expecting the other side to understand the version they are not used to.

So the translation should be some archaic French expression that would have been used by a French monarch in a similar situation, otherwise the French reader would be completely puzzled as to the source of this confusion.

zi_neb Jan 20, 2019:

Autre ?? Adresser/transmettre des pensées affectueuses / envoyer des pensées réconfortantes à quelqu'un
"The fact that someone has asked to be remembered to someone else means that they were thinking of them and by implication, thinking of them in a positive way. This immediately has the effect of uplifting, even if only to a small degree, the one thought of when they receive those “second hand” greetings. "
http://bible-studies-on-a-word.org.

Tony M Jan 20, 2019:

@ Asker Informally, in colloquial language, it has the same sense really as 'passe le bonjour de ma part' — but of course, syntactically, that wouldn't fit here anyway.

Ph_B (X) (asker) Jan 20, 2019:

Transmettre son bon souvenir, je suppose. Merci !

liz askew Jan 20, 2019:

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/remem...

liz askew Jan 20, 2019:

You will hear some people say "Remember me to your parents". It basically means "When you see your parents, remind them of my existence". The likely outcome is that when the person sees their parents, they will say "XXX says hello, by the way".