I personally dont find any problem saying Im in a frat. Its just an abreviation, it doesnt bother me at all. But if you call someone a boy around here, you better get ready for a fight..........Blaise

well ya man, not surprised there. I mean , you are a teke.

just kidding. I have nothing against tekes at all. If you have no problem putting yourself in that stereotype, I admire you.

Fraternity vs Frat
 

Personally, before becoming acquainted with the greek community, I used to use the word Frat (not thinking/knowing there was a difference). Then when my boyfriend joined a Fraternity, he made it clear it was a fraternity, not a frat.

Anyway, my campus has a very small greek community, but we all know better than to use the term "Frat." Although, I must admit that my girls and I do tend to use the term, but that's only to make it easier on us by shortening the word. Plus, we only use it when we're talking amongst ourselves, never to others or in refference of others.

I prefer fraternity. When my middle daughter wants to needle me a little, she calls ma a "frat boy."

I never knew the difference until the day my best male friend signed with TKE. He let me know right away about the frat/fraternity difference when I used the four letter f word, and that he just signed with a fraternity, not a frat. ;)

At least I learned at the beginning freshman year so I didn't make a fool of myself saying frat around people for a long time!

Before I got to college, I knew very little about the greek system, so I used "frat" and "fraternity" interchangeably. Once I got to school, I learned that "frat" was generally considered derogatory, so I started just using "fraternity". After all, I joined a sorority, not a sor ;)

It doesn't bother me much when other people use the word "frat", but I will drop subtle hints - for instance: "I was at this frat party last night." "Really? Which fraternity?" Generally people get the hint.