Sorority Recruitment Translations
 

WARNING - HIGH SNARK POTENTIAL IN THIS THREAD.


It seems to me that certain phrases keep popping up, and to the uninitiated they might mean something other than what the user assumes they mean. We should help. Drolefille is of course the queen of translations, so I'm hoping she, and all the GCers who are bilingual, will pitch in.

1. "My daughter didn't feel a connection" - translation: My daughter was absolutely sure she would be in a top tier sorority, and now they have cut her she won't consider any "lesser" chapters.

Any others?

1. "My daughter didn't feel a connection" - My daughter is too good for this chapter
2. "My daughter didn't want to rank XYZ and take a spot from someone else who would have wanted to be there" - My daughter is too good for this chapter
3. "My daughter is the sorority type" - I think my daughter is too good for certain chapters
4. "My daughter was cut from recruitment" - My daughter was cut from all of the "good" chapters
5. "There was a computer glitch so my daughter got a bid from her 2nd/3rd choice/no bid"- My daughter was not high enough on her first choice's bid list
6. "My 2nd/3rd choice wanted me more, so I got a bid there"- I was not high enough on my first choice's bid list

How you really see this is in the recruitment threads where the girl says she really had a nice time at a chapter and then ranks them last out of 15. Huh? You loved them, but they're not a good fit? How does that happen? Oh right, you're too PRETTY for the nice girls.

"I didn't feel a connection" - chapter members talked about social events exclusively, and I rank social activities below scholarship and philanthropy.

"I didn't feel a connection" -- I work hard for every grade in my 3.4 average, and this chapter boasts "no mandatory study hours" and focuses on football season.

"I didn't feel a connection" -- it was one of the few chapters that seemed more concerned about my daddy's income than my interests.

There is more than "I'm too good for ..."

I didn't feel at home there - They're Jewish, I'm Baptist and I'm not willing to give up bacon.

"My heart didn't sing"--(translation) "I can clearly do MUCH BETTER than the (fat/ugly/stupid/skanky/etc.) sorority! I mean, really! I was way too good for the ONE sorority that invited me back. Once I go back through, all of the other sororities that cut me will have to see that I'm too good for that sorority!"

Now that is hilarious!

I notice that at one house, "the girls were so gorgeous!" and at the next house, "the girls were so nice!" Is "nice" code for unattractive?

It has been said that in the South, "nice" is the kiss of death.
"Bless her heart" is the kiss of death with the coffin nailed shut. ;)

The campus needs to add some chapters! - I/we want chapters we deem worthy of our speshul snowflake status and the chapters who did extend an invitation aren't good enough for us.

I still remember my grandmother in Texas saying, "...well bless your heart" if I put on some particularly awful combination of clothing and walked in the room or did some other minor, but non-malicious screw-up.

Fixed your post.

33girl, the more you post-the more I enjoy reading the threads on GC. I'm glad I'm not the only person on this board that feels some of these women are being really ungrateful to the various chapters. I may be snarky about it but, I really like the way other GCers (and a few of them have already posted) have put what I'm thinking/ want to say in perspective.

"I didn't feel a connection" - Unicorns pooping rainbows didn't magically appear
"My heart didn't sing" - My mother has raised me to believe that I am a super special snowflake.

(I'm pregnant, cranky and uncomfortable. This is my new favorite thread.)

At first I didn't feel any connection, but after today I did!=I was far more interested in other chapters, so I wasn't listening before. They're the best of what i got.

And no, it isn't the withdrawal from bacon the pmn was having. Most Jewish house I know serve(d) bacon..and cheeseburgers....and tacos....

LOL at the "I work so hard for my 3.4...I don't feel a connection bc they don't have mandatory study hours." Really? Just bc you need to be forced to study and others don't means you can't be sisters? I had quite a nice GPA and my chapter managed to be #1 on grades every year without study halls. Still a lame excuse.

"I loved their philanthropy" looks very strange out of context, doesn't it?

This prompts me to link this. Relevant portions start at 6:00-7:45 minutes, but the whole thing is worth watching. :D

I'll have to abstain for now as I avoid most of the recruitment threads like the plague for these very reasons. Thanks for the mention though SWTXBelle *doffs cap*

I'll be back if I see something particularly compelling out in the wilds of GC.

It seems like that's an arguments that PNMs can use too..."How could they decide I don't fit in when they have 200 sisters who must all be different in some way?"

I don't think they necessarily say "that pnm doesn't fit" as much as they say "that pnm doesn't fit as WELL as some others" - and that's only if they haven't cut for grades, lack of recs, etc., etc. The whole membership selection process is such that we really can't comment other than on our own experience, and even then, there's stuff we don't put out there. The pnms (or their MOTHERS) can come here and spill their guts.

Thank you. I'd hardly know what to do if someone wasn't able to articulate what I didn't say. :rolleyes:

When you only get to talk to 10 women out of 200, when you only get a total of 3 hours before choosing sisters for life, and when you've never done this before, you can in my eyes be forgiven for believing the chapters are like the 10 women you meet.

I'm SO stealing that! :D

I'd ask if you had a stick up your ass about this, but I suspect it's a shotgun instead. Remove it, read the OP again, then post.

Really? So you have met a group of ten women before and had them all be exactly the same? Everyone? And you think it's reasonable for anyone to infer that a group of 200 women would all be carbon copies of one another? I'm glad you think women are so uncomplex that we can fit into just 17 categories.

:rolleyes: Looks familiar!

"I really don't want to say anything unkind about this house, so...it just wasn't for me."

means

"I'm dying to trash this house and hoping you'll be curious enough about why I hated it that you'll ask me probing questions."

Now, please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a lot of that in the intonation & context? I know one woman (Miss Ruth) who always tells everyone who brings something to a party or whatever, "Well, bless your little baby heart!" and I'm fairly certain that she means it in a happy way.

But the Nice & the Sweet can be, well, Nice and Sweet or they can be "Aren't you the nicest thing?" or "Isn't she the sweetest thing?" meant either way, depending on the intonation.

And I have heard the kiss of death with the coffin nailed shut, but in relationship with Sweet.


I think everyone has neglected, "My Daughter Was Sacked From Rush" - which translates into, "I wouldn't have been caught dead in a sorority 24 years ago, but my daughter wants to be in one so she deserves it, even if I don't know how the system works!"

Ooooh, here's one. I called and screamed at the rush advisor because they cut my super special snowflake, and they didn't recant their cut, means I'm an idiot who has forgotten every thing she ever learned about sorority life and need to go away forever. And no, nobody cares about the $100 you donate every year. Or never.

And I gotta say, I LOVE that there was a big ole snarky caveat at the top of this thread and STILL people are getting all defensive.

Yes, sororities don't have computers.

Of course you are absolutely correct, Ms. Chile - intonation and context are everything. I use both "nice" and "bless your heart" without any ironic undertone at all - but they are also in my arsenal of irony should there be a "situation". :D

(Dubai - Isn't it frustrating? I warn of snark potential, and yet some are offended by - the snark. I figure this thread is cathartic - some snark is necessary when dealing with the joy and pain that is recruitment. Then we can go, having cleansed our palates, and be supportive in other, less snarky, threads.)

If you can't stand the snark, get out of the Greek Chat.

Andy and Barney work that "nice", don't they?!

This thread slays me!

"Which chapters will do COR/Informal Recruitment at Uber-Competitive U?" ~~ I got cut from all the "best" chapters, so I dropped out because I wasn't happy with the choices I had left. I don't realize that the "best" chapters will probably make Quota and be well above Total. The ones who may be doing COR were probably the ones you weren't happy with.

I have never understood why some moms will come on here and say I can't understand how my Susie Snowflake was cut from all the top houses she has grades, activities, and a great personality.... Really mom something must not be up to snuff???

In the past few years in the SEC, it seems that all the chapters make quota and are well above total.

Wow. It never occurred to me that people might write falsified RIFs (that is, pretend to be alumnae when they're not). Though in this day and age of people doing who knows what to get an edge, I'm sure it's been tried. The UK Panhel website has links to RIFs on national websites. (I think it was UK.)

I was shocked a few years ago when I found out that people have done this but maybe perps are banking on the chance that the groups won't look up affiliation.

In the computer age that just seems crazy to me... But we all know the world is full of crazies!

Indeed! "Bless your heart" can mean "aren't you the sweetest thing?" or "there's just no hope."

And yes, SWTXBelle, Andy and Barney do. You should watch till the end, when Gomer says "You were right. She's nice!," and he means it in a good way.