1) I was clearing up some incorrect information posted above my original post.
2) Panhellenic love! I did not mean for it to come off as rude in any manner. Actually to assume that something written online is rude without it being directly so, is rude itself, don't you agree?
3) http://answers.google.com/answers/th...id/245950.html . There are many ways to refer to "women's organizations" but as far as women's GLOs, Chi Omega is the largest nationally. This was not a bragging point but merely correcting someone before me. ;)
4) If you want to continue this disagreement, please do so respectfully, or at least in a PM! We're ladies. Have some tact!

Most importantly...
5) I love all my Panhellenic Sisters, and I apologize if my assuming it was "common knowledge" came off as offensive, for every chapter at my university is taught this, it is a question on trivia day during Greek Week, and many friends of mine at universities all over the nation, including ones without a Chi Omega chapter, seem to know this from their new member period (WOW that was a long sentence!). Just like we all know ADPi was the first sorority, Pi Phi was the first national organization, Gamma Phi was the first women's fraternity to be called a sorority, etc.

You also have to remember that the Greek system is far more then just NPC. Like I can tell you what the largest fraternity is, and name the first five founded, but I knew nothing bout sororities until GC.

ETA: Also I didn't learn shit about even the existence of NPHC and NALFO as a pledge. what little I knew before GC was stuff I thought myself as a young brother.

Not sure if my NM Coordinator was wrong or what, but I was also taught that Chi Omega was the largest NPC org when I was a NM. To be fair though, they had a chapter on my campus so they were definitely "on our radar." We were also told that ZTA was the third largest NPC org in the nation. If these figures are wrong, then I'd like to know the correct figures because I can assure you, that's still being taught (a NM at a local collegiate chapter of ZTA told me that the other night at dinner).

And I liked the convo about handsigns. Just sayin'. And I just realized how this thread was totally bumped up there - wasn't there another thread about handsigns recently...?

No, you were perpetuating incorrect information. You said, and I quote with emphasis:

Quote:

Originally Posted by SXB90lm (Post 1878223) Chi Omega is the largest women's organization in the United States, even bigger than the Girl Scouts. This is a common knowledge fact available to anyone. All Greeks are taught this at some point. :)

Chi Omega, a wonderful organization, is not "the largest women's organization" in the United States.

According to Chi Omega's national website, it is "the largest women’s fraternal organization in the world with over 290,000 initiates and 171 collegiate chapters." According to the website of the Girl Scouts of the USA, "Today, there are 3.3 million Girl Scouts—2.4 million girl members and 928,000 adult members working primarily as volunteers."

Awesome what can be found on the web in 2 minutes.

As noted above, though, that's not what you said. You said the largest women's organzation, not women's GLO. When a claim like this is made, accuracy matters.
Speak for yourself. I'm sporting some Y chromosomes, as are a number of other folks around here. ;)

LOL!

http://i46.tinypic.com/2rr8007.jpg

There's a big difference between "the largest NPC" and "the largest women's organization in all the land."

And again, as when this pissing contest gets started on the fraternity side, you can define "largest" among NPCs in a myriad of ways. Most members? Most collegiate chapters? Most collegiate and alumnae chapters? Most active members? Most members initiated (living and dead)? Most chapters chartered?

That's very true. For me personally, I count most initiated members but if we were to do most installed chapters, I'm sure the list would look very different. In fact, all of those categories would most likely produce very different lists.

Oh my!! I Definitely meant SECOND to the girl scouts. Actually those numbers on both Chi Omega and the Girl Scout's websites are outdated a bit. But thank you for pointing out my mixed up error! As for the tactful ladies statement, I was directing it to the initial posts after me! I'm glad there are some y-chromosomes on GC and initially had come to this thread to find hand signs for some IFC Fraternities. So please can we get back on the ORIGINAL posting?? I wanted to know Phi Delta Theta and SigEp's handsigns if any of you handsome Fraternity gentlemen out there would like to share!!

And SthrnZeta - I believe you are correct. A few close friends of mine are ZTAs and have said the same. During my NMP I remember ZTA being a huge organization, mostly concentrated in the South. I believe you also have 100-some more chapters than Chi Omega throughout the nation.

followed by

Oh, newbies.

"Even bigger than" was supposed to be "second to"? Okay.

Are you sure that Girl Scouts of the USA is the only women's organization in the US bigger than Chi O? (Especially when the Google Answers page you linked above lists lists NOW and Hadassah, among others, with larger memberships, and since the 290,000+ figure for Chi O appears to be for all initiates, living and dead?)

I guess my point is why make a claim that's broader than the claim Chi Omega makes for itself,

ETA:I could be quite wrong and I'll be glad for anyone to correct me, but I'll be surprised if many IFC/NIC fraternities have official handsigns . . . at least of the public type being described in this thread.

Meanwhile, for Sig Ep, see hand signs etc...

So uh, our handsign is a crown (which I love because it's a symbol and not just trying to make letters - no offense to any other org, just my opinion) and our call if you will, is one person yells "Zeta check!" and the person answering it yells "Zeta's number 1!"

I'm assuming that's what this thread was SUPPOSED to be about... and I don't know the answer for Sig Ep or Phi Delta Theta but both of them have chapters where I work, I'm sure I could find out if it means that much to you.

@Knight Shadow - I can't say much, I was a newbie once too :rolleyes: ;)

We all were. I don't think I ever tried to start policing threads when I was, though lol

Oh well, I'll be nice and cut her some slack :p

DST has been touted as:

1. the largest African-American/diasporic Greek lettered sorority in the world;

2. the largest African American/diasporic women's organization in the world;

3. the largest women's organization in the country (and perhaps world);

4. and the best thing since sliced bread.

I know 1 and 4 to be correct. Sources are inconsistent regarding 2 and 3---2 is more likely than 3---but there's a reason these are not found in official statements regarding the Sorority. What's most important is having accomplishments other than age and size to boast about and, if you insist on teaching about age and size, making sure you have CONSISTENT SOURCES and PROOF to back it up.

lol @ bolded