i'm an iota lambda (st. norbert college, wi) alumnae, i still participate in some ceremonies and such...we don't use 'fuzzie' that often, but it is thrown around a bit...but we use the 'sign' all the time...we do the 'sign' then the next girl would do a 'heart' with her hands as well...we've done it since installation in 2005!:)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...41&id=59000015

Coming from Florida Atlantic University where I was initiated - We used the hand signs all the time. We also used "fuzzies" every so often - none of us thought it was degrading 0 yet the opposite cute. We were never referred to the fuzzies but we used it within ourselves. Now that im at UCF we also do hand signs and fuzzies is known here too.

I don't think anyone explicitly mentioned this in the post.

Someone mentioned Al Fuzzie our old mascot. Rumor has it that the inspiration for Fozzie may come from Alpha Xi Delta since Jim Hensen's wife was a sister and the originally muppet had pink roses on his collar.

At Dartmouth we recently started using "the sign" but we call it "xi-fingers". I have a photo from our founding where the girls had shirts that said "Fuzzies".

In my area of the country the women are known as Alpa Xi's. There is a "fuzzy" connection, but more like "fuzzy love" that they say to each other. I know many years ago they chose "fuzzy brothers" which could have been any men on campus belonging to a fraternity, sports team , or just an independent. (the women voted on a small group) They also voted on the one man they called the "rose thorn" and this was a huge honor. The Aplha Xi Deltas were rell respected and represented.

When I was in college I thought it was kind of offensive (small chapter, so maybe we were a little defensive), but now in my old age I think it's cute and I wish it was used more. Our letters are special and making our nickname be something other than the same as everyone else I think is great. But in any case none of that bugs me as much as AZD. It's not a zeta and should NEVER be spelled that way. THAT is nails on the chalk board to me.

I think I've said it already but I'll say it again. I HATE THAT. We are not Alpha Zeta Delta, and YES it is a big deal. We just participated in a philanthropy for one of the stronger fraternities on campus, and when the brother who was running the first event called for our team he said "Alpha Zeta Delta". I think we've done great with PR and getting our name out there since colonization, so that, to me, was just a huge slap in the face.

I'm from the University of South Dakota, and we don't go by 'fuzzies'. On campus, they call us the A-Xis. And I didn't see the picture of the hand sign shown, but we do spell 'Xi' with our fingers. We call it throwing what you know, which I think is cute.

"Throw what you know" was the theme for our bid day shirts this year

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...1&l=dbe196fbc9 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...1&l=dbe196fbc9

adorable :)
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/C:...you%20know.jpghttp://www.facebook.com/#/photo.php?...d=133246241721

totally agree.. it is a Xi not a Z(eta). I love that we have the greek letter Xi and I believe we are the only national sorority that does (def only NPC). so, i think it is in our best interest to play that up. it is another unique identifier. luv it!
fuzzie..not my fav. we never used it. it reminds me of hairy, which isn't good. :)

You're right about being the only NPC, but Theta Nu Xi is a national sorority.

I learned the hand sign from Beta Alpha at UT. I am not fond of being called Fuzzies, but can understand how it came to be.

and it grates on me when people use AZD...we are NOT Alpha Zeta Delta!!!

that reminds me of Alpha Phi because they are called A-Phi and one of them was trying to call us A-Xi and I'm like...no that isn't us!

We (Epsilon Xi) do bid day pictures with the Xi hand symbol. We love it. We were told that we were not supposed to call ourselves "Fuzzies" via order by Nationals.

agreed. our greek director put that on the t-shirts for formal recruitment. (that all the sororities particapate in and the others were spelled correctly) it made my chapter very angry.

I'm from Ohio, where many of the chapters still use "fuzzies"....I really like it simply because it's cute, and why deny a nickname that's built right in (alPHAXIdelta) and also connects with our teddy bear mascot? However, I LOVE throwing what you know/the Xi-sign, and we use that as well, all the time! They can coexist!!!