Proper workout attire, does that include a jersey?
 

Please forgive me fellow Macon Magnolias.... if this is a stupid comment let me know and I will deal... I have thick skin.

On my way to work this morning I drove out of the main drag of my neighbourhood and saw a really cute girl jogging with her dog. Then I saw the letters on her shirt, clearly say "Phi Mu." And it was not only a t-shirt, but a Jersey. Now this is the second time I've seen her jog in her jersey. I have also seen her jog in other Phi Mu shirts from date parties, crushes, etc...

Now I know I was lectured up and down by my chapter to never work out in my letters, it didn't matter what kind of shirt it was. Am I wrong to think, "WTH!," everytime I see this? Do I pull over and say, "as part of the Macon Magnolia please stop?"

Ok I am done. I feel so silly posting this. Forgive me if I sound like a fool. However if I am in the right let me know, and I will set her straight on the "Macon Magnolia" workout path. LOL!

1. Stay in your lane. To put it as nicely as possible, it's not your business.

2. Phi Mu does NOT have a rule about working out in ANY Phi Mu gear. If anything, it would promote Phi Mu and good health.

3. Macon Magnolia is a Greekchat thing. Unless she's a member, she won't know what you're talking about.

My thoughts:
A) I exercise in my letters
B) What are the odds she knows what a "Macon Magnolia" is?
C) Not everyone treats jerseys as different from other letters.
D) I think this falls into a MYOB category.

Greeks at Maryland wear event shirts with letters on them to work out all the time. A lot of chapters have matching athletic shirts to wear during intramrual games. It wouldn't occur to me that that'd be a huge no-no to some chapters. What exactly is it that makes it objectionable? Is it "Don't advertise you're an XYZ when you're working out all hot/sweaty/no makeup/hair up/not perfect looking" or is it "Don't degrade your XYZ gear by getting it nasty and sweaty"?

Girl, no. Just because it's a rule for YOUR CHAPTER (because I am also an ADPi and have never heard of such a thing) doesn't mean everyone else has to follow it.

Wow....

Jerseys-at least the kind we wear at my alma mater, are very VERY warm. I'd never want to work out it one. But I'd advise not to say anything. If she's comfortable enough to do that then whatever...I'd sure like to meet her though!

I do agree with you, jerseys are just a bit much for a jog. A walk if you just happen to have to be walking around in what you put on fine, but for me putting on my jersey to jog would be like putting on a snorkel to go to the movies.

I have to admit that I never heard of someone being told NOT to wear letter shirts for work-outs or at the gym. The reason I say that is because I see on here all the time that someone ran into another Greek at the gym.

If nothing else, I'm sure she'd love if you introduced yourself. When I see a Greek and I'm wearing letters, I try to go out of my way to say, "hello." I think I'm a pretty approachable person and hope that other Greeks feel comfortable walking up to me in letters and doing the same. Just say hello to her. I'm sure she'd love to meet another Greek.

I love this thread.

Ehh...

You wouldn't want someone who is NOT even a member of your GLO to stop their car and say hello when you're jogging with your dog? :p Where's your weird borderline stalker GLO spirit?

There's so much that's funny about this thread. So much. It's good that the OP has thick skin. :) I know what the dos and don'ts of MY symbols are but would never pretend to know or even care what other GLOs should be doing in their letters. Organizational bonds (in real life or just GC-related) don't mean that people have a real insight on the other organization(s).

Like button.

Uh, aren't jerseys... athletic wear to start?

That's like saying "OMG NO, DON'T WEAR YOGA PANTS TO DO YOGA! WTF ARE YOU THINKING?!"

We were told *TO* wear our letters to the gym (good PR).

Since one of our four Aims is Physical Development (along with Social/Spiritual/Academic Development - it seems wrong to just leave that out there by itself...we're not going through pueberty), it seems fitting to wear letters to work out.

Please. I wouldn't even stop for frat, much less Greek Gretchen from XYZ Sorority lol.

I will only acknowledge another Greek if I'm wearing letters at the time, but I will not pull over and chase after someone to tell him/her that I'm in a GLO. I'm a tall, black man. Wouldn't go over well :p

Pretty much.

Same here. I'm supposed to "develop and prize health and vigor of body", so we think it's a good thing to see letters at the gym. I wouldn't work out in a jersey because they're thick, but I in fact just got back from the gym and I'm wearing a mixer shirt with my letters. :)

Let me get a clarification here. By "jersey" do you mean a sewn-on lettered t-shirt, or a football/hockey-type jersey with your crest/COA on it? (Not that it matters, but people use the word interchangeably.)

Ok stopping the car is creepy, but if we passed on the bike trail I'd say something, but then I say hi to most people I pass on the bike trail.

Exactly. My Greek cheerleaders wear letter/event shirts to practice all the time. It ends up being quite the recruiting tactic!

We were always told to wear our letters to the gym, but NOT to wear our current recruitment shirts (with deferred recruitment, in the Fall we would get a shirt that we would all wear on the same day) because we had to wear them every week and they'd get too gross too quickly if you used them to work out in. But letters in general were encouraged. My campus doesn't do the whole "jersey" thing, so I have no opinions on that.

I would think a jersey would be gross to jog in because 1) they're heavier than other t-shirts to begin with and then 2) you layer the fabric letters on top of it. Massive boob sweat potential.

But other than that, I don't see a thing wrong with it.

As others have said, this is definitely in MYOB territory.

I don't mean you should stop your car. I like your idea of saying hello to anyone on a bike path, walking, whatever. I wouldn't just stop my car and be like, "Hey you-hey there...I'm an XYZ and I see you are an ABC...let's be friends!"

KS...come on now, you are a tall black man and that may seem intimidating but, I'm a short woman. For some reason, I think being a shorter female may not make me half as intimidating as a tall man. I'd say hello to you, though. :) I would hope others would do the same to me.

Actually, while checking out something else I realized that both the Wiki pages on both ADPi and Phi Mu include a reference to it. The introductory paragraph of each concludes with this sentence (as approropriate to the article): " Alpha Delta Pi/Phi Mu is one of the two 'Macon Magnolias,' a term used to celebrate the bonds it shares with Phi Mu/Alpha Delta Pi." The references seem to have been added by "PhimuNH" on December 7, 2008. She also added a reference to "Macon Magnolias" in the Wiki's article on "Fraternities and Sororities."

That prompted me to google the term, which turned up some other references.

I was surprised. I assume there's no official recognition of the term by either group?

Anyone can go on wikj and put something in there. The term was made up on here and probably carried over elsewhere.

Obviously. That's why I noted that it was added to those websites in December 2008. There have been over 100 edits each to the ADPi page and to the Phi Mu page since -- I was surprised no one had removed the references in all that time. I know we have some people who moniter our Wiki page and clean up anything like that that someone might add.

Unless the term has some official or imformal standing with the two orgs, which has pretty much been a GC thing, I would have expected someone to edit out the "Magnolia Macon" references a long time ago.

Okay... I'm bored at work and thought I'd weigh in on this old post because I really want the day to be over haha

Toward the end of my time as a collegiate, my Phi Mu chapter had some... image issues... so we would ask our girls not to wear anything Phi Mu related while you were wearing sweatpants or weren't very presentable. The campus rec center was one place where that rule was lifted slightly because it's appropraite to look a little messy when you're working out, it's less appropraite to wear sweatpants and look like you just rolled out of bed to go to class. But if you were going right from spin class to real classes and wanted to wear something Phi Mu... Needless to say it got complicated but the "no sweatpants and letters" rule was a rule.

Obviously as an Alumna I wear whatever I want whenever I want including wearing my letters to the gym, a nice way to meet other Phi Mu's. Now if Phi Mu called me up and said "please don't do that" I wouldn't. But there is no rule saying you can't wear your letters while you workout and yes, it's inapropraite and super nosey to say something otherwise to someone who isn't in your chapter. I say chapter instead of GLO because things like this are chapter specific.

Google the term "Macon Magnolia" and you'll find it in like 15 different places refrencing Phi Mu and ADPi, universities who have both chapters use it, blogs use it, obviously wikipedia uses it, a company that caters to sorority women traveling to Macon uses it in their advertising material. Although it doesn't have any "official" stamp of approval from either national organization I've heard national officers use it while representing their respective chapters in official capacities. It's not just a GC thing.

This is a pretty old thread. Just saying. (And there are national officers on here)

Oddly enough at the gym today there was a Phi Mu and an ADPi (also an A Xi D, a Kappa and and a Pi Phi) wearing clothing with letters on them. One with a jersey, a dad's weekend shirt, a few bid day shirts...

You missed the point of my 2+ year old post. Read this thread and you'll see the birth of the term "Macon Magnolia" in 2003 here on GC (post 23). For many years, it was pretty much only a GC thing. My post was prompted by my first time seeing it used outside GC, and you'll notice I said I googled it then and found other references to it. The whole point of my post was to wonder whether that was just some random GCer(s) sticking it in places like Wikipedia or whether the term was really gaining traction outside GC.

Funny, I wear my letters all the time at the gym and I'm 59 years old. Some are "mine", things I have purchased, some are from Parent Weekends, my 4 daughters are all Alpha Gams... It starts conversations, gets AGD out in public, etc. I think it's all good as it's part of our Purpose.

Since we're reviving this thread...

Every time jersey was mentioned, I was thinking of something like a football jersey or lacrosse pinnies. There's no way that's heavier than a t-shirt. haha