I completely agree. Can't imagine expending time and energy on this.

I recently learned that Chi Omega also had a whistle that included a response that only a Chi O would know. Not a part of ritual at all but something that Chi Os did publicly back in the day.

We have a whistle, but I thought it was secret. I really can't whistle, so I guess I would have been left alone at the train station.

I have a feeling that we'll see more Kappa signs than ever before....

Yes, but which one? :p

OK someone (was it kaokite)? shared something that had all the whistles in musical notation form. I can see it in my mind's eye.

I can see a lot of other stuff in my mind's eye too.

Since I'm not that far away removed from school, hand signs were really common at my school. Truth be told, my chapter was pretty obsessed with "throwing what we know". I get why people like it and do it- there is a photo of me and my sister doing our respective sorority hand signs on her bid day- but I also get that it's just a current trend and not part of our ritual.

That being said, did there even need to be a blog post about it at all in the first place? I respect Kappa's decision, but there's an easy solution that doesn't require a blog post ripe for drama- just stop posting them, and if asked, explain. There are PLENTY of photos on social media of Kappas posing without a hand sign. Use those photos instead, and skip the ones without the hand sign. For your official publication, put in the submission guidelines that hand sign photos won't be published. There. Done.

I really want to ask what you're seeing, but that would defeat your goal of not derailing the thread....;)

I think they're called "flashbacks". Or something of the sort. :D :p

There. Now I've done it. I'm channeling you-know-who. Now I'm in Big Trouble.

It's all my fault. DrPhil said it, I believe it, that settles it.

Is it this?
http://www.franbecque.com/wp-content...0/whistles.jpg

My own feeling about the signs is that if you have to think about it, it's too complex. Some of the ones I've seen look almost painful.

Ours is simple, it's just a Xi. Pointer fingers to form the X and a pinky for the I depending on which direction you're taking the picture (from the front, or from behind). It's cute. I like it. I've gotten some cute pictures that way.

To my knowledge, we do not have a whistle.

Agreed. I do like the crescent...it's easy and obvious.

My feeling on the signs are: they're harmless. I was an active 30 years ago and we didn't have them, but I don't mind them.

As an adviser, I constantly remind myself that the girls need to have their own sorority experience just as I had mine, and it will not be the same as mine because times change. If hand signs and social media are now the thing, then that is going to be part of it. I'm sure someone who was active 30 years before I was would have been disapproving of something we did or disliked our 80's fashions, big hair, etc. as well.

(So happy that social media was not around when I was an active...)

ETA... some of those fraternity whistles look really complex, and I can read music. I wonder if anyone does those anymore?

Everything looks reasonable on there except... Phi Beta Kappa, 3rd down on the right. I would be willing to bet a large amount of money that Phi Beta Kappa (as an honorary) doesn't have a whistle.

To me, (as a white male, whose been a rep to an Alpha Phi Omega chapter at an NPHC) the major difference between the NPHC and "traditional" (1980s?) NPC signs is that NPHC signs are mostly "thrown", single hand and often with motion. traditional NPC signs are often static, involve both hands (or in some cases arms) and/or have multiple women making pieces of the sign to "assemble" one sign...

And yes, the ASL sign for Vagina is two hands making "L" signs with the index finger pointing out and down tapping together. The ASL sign for kite (which may be what they are trying to make) is one hand with a finger pointing up (as the string) toward another flat hand (as the kite) with the kite hand fluttering and the two hands move in concert up and down

Vagina: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m36jIkkmezg
Kite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nYGf9fvzk0

I am perfectly ok with my sorority's hand sign since it is so painfully simple and celebrates the letter that makes us unique among NPC sororities. But the ones who have ridiculously complicated ones? Yeah, they should stop trying so hard to be cool. Their symbols are interesting and unique and the fact that they can't be mimicked in hand gestures should be celebrated, not used to cause carpal tunnel.

But straying into the ASL question, I have wondered how sorority names are translated for ASL. My nephew goes to RIT, a school with a lot of deaf students. I asked him to find out but, you know, he doesn't care so never got me an answer. Does anyone know if the letters are spelled out, abbreviated, made a single gesture, or what?