Why? Especially when it's just some random guy.

First of all, as has been said, there could be any number of reasons this guy was wearing this hat. If he really was trying to be viewed as a “fraternity” member, then it’s sad, because almost anyone who is Greek would be able to tell otherwise. And it would be laughable if he was saying things to try and pass himself off as such.

On the other hand, he could have just bought the hat without knowing what it even meant. These are Greek letters. Surprisingly enough, some people, when seeing these letters, don’t think about fraternities and sororities… because Greek organizations use letters from the Greek alphabet, which was created long before “our letters” were put together in the order that they were.

Also, maybe this guy is a past sweetheart of a chapter. You never know.

The point is, you got mad and immediately made assumptions about this guy, knowing absolutely nothing about him. And then you sounded as if you were justifying the behavior of ripping a hat off of someone’s head if they were wearing Greek letters that they didn’t “earn”. None of us claimed we were saints. And I can’t speak for everyone here, but while I’m not perfect, I also know that to forcibly remove an article of clothing from someone else’s body is wrong. For me to even think of doing that because of something I conjured up in my own head about how awful this “perp” is, clearly wouldn't be the right thing to do. And if you say in a public forum that you would support someone’s decision to do just that, or to at least feel that way based on a ridiculous and unfounded conclusion, you’re going to get all kinds of snarky comments. To think otherwise is a display of ignorance.

Good etiquette means not correcting the behavior of others.

I think you just made Miss Manners very happy.

Big Brothers
 

I believe they are now passe', but we had big brothers - the Moonlighters - and they would wear our letters at events. No one, to the best of my knowledge, was ever confused. :rolleyes: They mainly coached us for intermurals,and moved the heavy stuff during rush.

We had something BETTER than big brothers. We had HOUSEBOYS. Yum. They were guys who liked hanging out with us/dated/married some of us. Their sole purpose was to serve us at formal dinners every week. They also were expected to show for dinner and lunch to "assist" us with our dining needs. Additional duties included changing light bulbs, helping the house mother, etc.

I ADORED the houseboys. I still keep in touch with all of them.

The guys who worked in our kitchen are called hashers, same sort of set up.

You got it, baby!

and word to PeppyGPhiB, who said it beautifully:

Well guess what- I saw the gentleman wearing it today again.

He came to the reference desk asking for directions to a place. He barely spoke English- so we switched to my native language. Due to his accent, I could tell that he was not originally from the USA- this is probably relevant.

I asked him about his hat- if he had a daughter or friend in the GLO. He said the hat had been given to him. He seemed very confused when I asked him about the letters. I told him that they belonged to a sorority called "Upsilon Upsilon" (not its real name, of course). Transaction went well and he was always very polite- but I could tell that he had been given the hat as a clothing donation.

wow, you care WAAAY too much.

I remember the Moonlighters!!! They were awesome :) And absolute gentlemen...

Seriously. Scandia, mind your own business. Calling him out on it is embarrassing. You bother to post a thread asking an etiquette question then ignore the responses you received. You then fly against even the most basic etiquette and call him out on it.

I asked in a very polite way after we had talked for a while. I did not criticize him at all for it- just asked about it and told him what it stood for. He was very pleased with all the info I gave him.

I bet you that he didn't care two flying rat's asses what the letters stood for. Seriously LET IT GO!

Maybe he just had gas.