girl in my letters!
 

Ok, so I was on campus yesterday walking to class and I see a girl in my letters that I don't recognize. (Sidenote: there's a girl, who I haven't met, who was rushing us and has been telling people she's a pledge). So I went up to this girl and I was like "I'm sorry, but I don't know you and you're wearing my letters" and the guy that was with her was like, "oh this is so-and-so's sister." So, at first I kind of felt like a jackass because obviously she was my sister's sister and she was just staying over there and needed to borrow a shirt...but then it started to bother me because a) she doesn't look anything like my sister so I never would have guessed and b) if we have an issue with a girl thinking she's a pledge, why would you give someone else your letters to wear even if it is your own sister? It wouldn't be an issue for me if it was a date shirt like Formal or Hayride, but it was our greek week shirt.

So, my question is, would anyone have said something? Would you be bothered by this?
:confused:

we had a girl on campus who would walk around in DZ letters, even though we don't have DZ on campus. One time, someone in one of my classes asked her if she was a DZ from another school and had transferred...her answer was that she had bought the letters at a thrift store and only wore them to make fun of people in greek organizations.

:confused: Huh? How is that making fun of anything?

I don't know. she was a weirdo.

No, I would never let my sister wear my letters (though I love her and would love to have her join!) - short of course of an emergency, like she's dying of hypothermia and my sweatshirt will save her life. ;)

If you're going on vacation, bring your own clothes!

Sounds more like a wannabe to me. :rolleyes: Why would you want to wear the name of an organization that you don't like? Makes no sense. It would be like me wearing a Gore campaign t-shirt while voting for Bush.

I probably wouldn't have said anything and just assumed she could've been a member at another school. There's a lot of people I know who were member of fraternities and sororities at other school and just decided not to affiliate at UCF. I actually have a FSU Tri-Delta and a Western Michigan Sig Ep in my classes who just didn't feel like going through the process of affiliation but still wear their letters proudly.
But, on a sidenote, my younger sister who is still in high school was begging me one day for one of my ZTA shirts. I gave her my old, Bid Day '99 shirt. It's not a letter shirt, just a t-shirt so I didn't see any harm in it.

i wouldn't let my biological sister wear my letters either... i mean she wears stuff like date party, and philanthropy tshirts all the time (mostly b/c she steals them from me when i'm not looking ;)) but letters - like a sweatshirt with DZ on it, she knows better than that. I would be extremely bothered by a person walking around campus wearing letters - i mean what if they, thinking they're making fun of greeks, walk into a bar and sit down and have a few in my letters.. its just not right...

If I had a sister, I wouldn't let her wear my letters either......personally I find it funny whenever my husband borrows my letter sweater to wear around our apartment!:D:D

If I saw someone on my campus with letters I didn't know I would just think they transferred from somewhere. I am actually "that person" as I now go to school in Florida, but my local is in my hometown in Canada. I've had a few people ask me where my sorority is from, must from recognizing the letters aren't from any FSU greeks! It's a good way for anyone transferring to a new school to meet other greeks!:D:D

Back in 1997 my sisters saw this girl on the UBC campus wearing our letters, and we knew she wasn't one of our alum. Anyways one of our girls talked to her and found out she was a dphie alum from our Beta Sigma chapter in Ottawa - she was just starting law school at UBC. She came out to a couple of meetings, but we didn't really see or hear much from her after that. The whole situation was cool though :)

LeslieAGD, I'm more interested in the sidenote. There is someone who claims to be a pledge of your sorority, and you haven't met her, and she's not really a pledge. That's weird!

I don't know why she wore her sister's letters unless she wanted to meet all of her sister's sisters. You might have a future AGD here. :)

hmmmmm...
 

Welllll...I can't say for sure, cuz I haven't been in that situation so far, but I don't really see that it's a big deal. After all, just because we are greek letter orgs doesn't mean that we OWN the greek alphabet! The one situation which I would definitely find shady would be if some random person was wearing my letters with the school's name as well, because that would be specifically relating to my org. Otherwise, it's a free country, as long as they are just wearing some letters and aren't trying to claim false membership, it doesn't really bother me.

girl in my letters response
 

I don't think it was wrong of you to ask her about it, because you were just looking out for your sorority and your sisters. I have some of my older sister's sorority tshirts from when she was a Chi O at Western KY, but she would never give me her letters. :) now she can, since i'm a Chi O at Univ of South Alabama. There are alot of people who transfer and don't affiliate, but you can always politely ask when your gut instinct tells you to ask, because like someone said earlier.. if that person does things in your letter shirt (like drink or something) it could reflect badly on your sorority.

:)

Lori
Beta Theta chapter of Chi Omega

Ok, when I read that first post I was totaly freaked out. I am hoping to transfer to a school that has my org. but I don't know if I want to affiliate. I am TERRIFIED that wearing my letters around campus will be met with hostility. I understand that you may think people are trying to be like you or want to make fun of greek life, but I personally don't want to be jumped on for wearing someone's letters because guess what.....they're not YOUR letters alone.....they're mine too. This school is really big and I don't know how I will exactly go about finding these girls and telling them if I decide to go there, but I would really not want to affiliate with a chapter if a member came up to me with accusations. Not even that, just a look or a tone like I'm not good enough or am suspect of being a poser. Just my 2 cents since I'll probably be going through it soon. Be nice to transfers.

I apologize if that post was a little harsh -- I've just been VERY worried about this and the first post confirmed my fears.

Kristy, I wouldn't worry too much! Most of this thread is discussing how we would feel AFTER we knew someone else was wearing our letters and they oughtn't be. I know that if I see someone in my letters, I assume they are a sister. We used to see that in college - the occasional transfer, more often grad students (the grad school was twice as big as the undergrad). Usually, people would be very friendly to them. There just aren't that many Greek impersonators out there. (There's probably more girls who have been "de-sistered" out there wearing their letters than pretenders, and sometimes they DO still pretend to represent their former organization.)

Are you planning on affiliating at your new school? Because if you are, you'll meet the girls right away, and them seeing you in your letters won't even be an issue. Otherwise, they'll probably just strike up a friendly conversation and want to know all about your chapter!

I agree with FuzzieAlum on this... I never knew of any sister who was rude to a stranger wearing our letters on campus. I think the majority of us assume that the girls are members and approach them with that thought in mind.

Kristi, I did not mean for this post to worry you about your transfer! Like FuzzieAlum said, this post was directed towards someone who ought not to be wearing a GLO's Greek letters. I was worried that the girl I saw was someone who was falsely persenting herself as a pledge of my chapter. Even then, I was in no way rude to her, just a little curious and confused. The girl was wearing a Greek Week shirt that had our sorority and our university on it and Greek Week just took place last week. Also, my roommate was the one passing out the shirts so if someone not of our chapter had one of the shirts I would probably have known about it.

I hope this clears things up and explains my situation a little better.
In this situation, how would people react?

Johnny come lately to the convo..
 

The only time I have ever worn any letters other than my own was when I was running a campaign for student government and I had the campaign ticket t-shirt on. The top two gals onthe ticket were Sigma Kappas. There was 10 minutes left to vote, and I hadent yet, but couldnt go vote with that t-shirt on. (Campaigning near the voting booth), so the only solution was that the prez candidate gave me her sweatshirt to put over the campaign shirt. Outta respect, I wore it inside out. So you would have trouble seeing the letters. Also I can assure you it was on less than 5 minutes, as it was Sigma Kappa Lavender. ;)

It was wired wearing someone elses letters tho - . I also knew that the gals could get in serious tropuble for letting a guy wear the letters, but I figured it was ok, 'cause they were inside out and 2, it was while trying to help a couple of Sigma Kappas.

Re: hmmmmm...
 

Personally, if I was still in a sorority I would be flattered if I see someone wearing my letters or "perpin", rather than insulted. Cloud9, I think the issue that they are having is that those letters have a special meaning, they worked hard to earn them, and that's one of the things that bonds them as sisters. So, to see someone sport their letters who is not affiliated with their org can be percieved as disrespectful by some.

My sorority doesn't allow anyone but initiated sisters to wear letters... so if I saw a girl in letters, I'd assume she's an AEPhi from a different chapter (either a transfer or someone visiting). If I found out otherwise, there would be trouble!

For party/event type shirts... if a guy were wearing it I'd assume he's a member's S.O. If a girl were wearing it, I'd assume at first that she was an AEPhi, but I wouldn't be too bothered if she was a member's sister, best friend, mom, etc. as long as she was up-front about it (i.e. not perping).

I'm like the majority of you all--if I saw someone I didn't know with my sorority's letters on, I would think, "Oh, cool, somebody from another chapter!" I think that's what most people would think.

However, at Region Day last year, someone was talking about a girl at her school who wanted to be in our sorority so bad that she would walk around in our letters and even had Delta Zeta bumper stickers on her car, and the whole chapter was pretty upset about it. Now that I can definitely see--I would really wonder why anyone would want to do that sort of thing when there's a chapter of that organization at his/her school and it would be so easy for people to figure out that they were really just pretending.

Right, I understand that. But, again, although I would find it sketchy, I wouldn't lose sleep over it unless, as I previously said, there is a specific reference to my school on whatever garment happens to sport the same letters that represent my org. After all, in reality, there is no law that says no one else is allowed to use those particular letters for any purpose other than as a member of xyz org. And I actually think is ok, I have friends who are greek, as in actually FROM greece, and one of them happens to have a necklace with her initials in greek. Now, suppose they happen to be the same as a sorority...should she be given grief over it? Or even some one who is just interested in it for trendy reasons...much like the way people will get Chinese characters in a shirt or even tatoo. I definitely agree however on the points that those specifically aiming to misrepresent an organization are wrong. Maybe greek orgs should have specifically designed logos like any other big organization? Something that is put into law---that way, although letters themselves are free to the public, your logo design would be property of xyz org. Or is there already something like this in existence? Excuse my ignorance if there is!:)

Coat of arms? I don't know. I don't think there is . But, you have a good idea!

I agree with most of you. If a girl who wasn't a sister of my chapter happened to be running around campus in my letters I would think she was visiting, or maybe alum I hadn't met or something of the sort. If I found out she wasn't affiliated I would be kinda upset that she was wearing our letters. Like someone else said, we went through a whole process in order to be able to wear those, learned all about them and wear them with pride.
Actually Cloud9 I think that althogh the greek alphabet is free for anyone to wear, the fact that GLO's pick certain letters in a certain order to form the name of an organization does make it legally THEIR letters, the name of the organization is copyrighted. :D

Actually, a lot of the greek orgs names ARE copyrighted - as well as badges, crests, etc. For example, the grouping of letters of Alpha Omicron Pi is copyrighted by Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity - only members are allowed to use them, have items printed, etc. in the United States. Now, if someone is 'caught perping' they would be asked to stop and if they continue to use the letters without proper authorization I'm sure that there could be legal ramifications (I'm not a lawyer, etc just referencing our constitution and thinking what happens with copyrighted materials.) If they are someone's initials and on a necklace that would be a different story altogether as its not 'perping'.

Sarah

I don't think there's anything wrong with going up to someone who's wearing your letters at your campus and you don't know them. I'm not saying you should attack them, though. If you just go over and say, Hi, I'm an XYZ here. I was wondering if you're one also. (Or something to that effect). If she's not legit, then you can ask that person not to wear it and nicely explain that if anything happens, real XYZs are the ones who have to deal with it.

Some of my sisters and I were all sitting at brunch one day, with one of our national officers, nonetheless, and all of a sudden some random girl walks past us in our Homecoming sweatshirt with our letters on it and the letters of the fraternity we paired up with. After we picked our jaws up off the floor one of us went over and asked her if she's a SK somewhere else. The girl was like, "Oh, no, my brother is an AB and I stole it from his closet." That's not cool, so our girl asked her if she wouldn't wear it for the reason I said above. The girl gave her attitude so our girl asked her to ask her brother what he thinks about a girl wearing other sorority's letters. We never saw her in the shirt again.

Some of my sisters went to Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 2001 and one of them who was roommates with a Delta Gamma, went somewhere and left that girl in the hotel room during the day. That chick took it upon herself to throw on our Bid Day shirt because "she had nothing else to wear" (sure) and then take pictures in our letters, drinking and smoking! We were not too happy when we saw those from the trip! :mad:

Leslie- You have to give me info on who this was...and who's sister is going through next year?!?!? I would be really upset if this happened too. I am on student senate and the other day our new SG president (who I don't like, but that neither here nor there) was wearing a shirt that said "Eastern Michigan Greek" on it. My friends from SDT came into our student organization offices throwing a fit about it. So I asked her where she got the shirt from and she was ike "a friend let me borrow it" and I was like "that's cool, but just so you know, a lot of people consider it an insult to wear anything greek when you aren't greek" and she was like "ok, I'll put on my sweater" but it still made me mad that someone would let her borrow greek stuff when she isn't greek!

Katey, check your PM box.

Funny story about wearing letters on a different campus:

This past fall, some of my brothers decided to do a road trip to a football game against one of our rivals. Now, our chapter of Phi Kappa Psi is not nearly the same as other chapters (although we are cool in our own way:cool: So, as they arrived on the campus, it was Friday night and Greek Row was hopping (it was their homecoming weekend). They noticed that a lot of sorority girls were looking at them and whispering. So, finally one girl came up to a group of brothers and said to them in a haughty tone (their words, not mine), "...What chapter are YOU GUYS from?", as if there was NO WAY that they could have been Phi Psi's from that school:D Apparantly, the Phi Psi's there are the big jock fraternity, and our guys were nowhere near that image... So it just goes to show that even though you have the same letters, each group is different and reputations differ from chapter to chapter;)

A funny story at IU

A little girl was standing somewhere on campus wearing a Zeta Phi Beta t-shirt.

Being a child, she couldnt have been a member. She was also white (though there are white members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority at IU and nationally) but it was probably a safe bet that she was not a member.

So...in a kind voice, a friend of mine, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority asked her if she was indeed, a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.

The little girl, in a bratty, though cute manner, then replied "of course not stupid, I'm not in college yet".

So somewhat confused, we inquired why on earth she was wearing the letters to an organization that she didnt belong to.

She then replied

"because...my grandfather and I like the color blue, so he bought one of these shirts for himself and my mother and brother and I...we always wear them!".

We found it really amusing, yet odd.
That wasnt the case for my friends in Zeta Phi Beta.

XP2k

I know this thread is kind of old, but I'd like to add my story: this semester in class one day, I saw a girl come in wearing a Chi Omega shirt. I hadn't met her yet, so I was going to talk to her after class and find out what chapter she was from, etc., but I didn't get a chance. I kind of forgot about it later, having so much other stuff going on, but I saw her at a party one night recently, and went over to talk to her. I told her that I had seen her wearing my letters one day, and that I was a Chi Omega, told her my chapter, and asked her what chapter she was from. She told me that she wasn't a Chi Omega, but her roomate was, and her roomate let her wear her shirts every now and then. I was like, what?? It kind of made me mad, and so I said something(trying to say in a sort of joking manner, so I didn't seem like a bitch) along the lines of, oh-I thought you were a member because only initiated members wear our letters, but hey-I run out of clothes too when I need to do laundry!

I tried not to be bitchy, even though I was mad, but on a good note-I haven't seen her in our letters since then.

Re: girl in my letters!
 

OMG about the girl just taking the bid day shirt and wearing it! That is so dumb! I would never think of wearing DZ letters while drinking, but I certainly wouldn't choose to defame someone else's letters instead! What a hooch!

Counting,

I completely agree with you. I would not like it if some random girl was wearing my letters. :eek: Personally I would get offended.:o That is just the way a feel about my letters.


Ronnie:D

Interestingly enough, the very first set of letters I ever owned was an AEPi-Phi Mu shirt that my older brother gave me long before I ever got to college.

girl wearing boyfriends letters?
 

I'm not Greek (yet) as i will be transfering to my 4 year university in the fall. You talk about girls wearing various sorority letters...but what if I were to wear my boyfriends letters? DOes the same apply? Just curious. :)

Re: girl wearing boyfriends letters?
 

I don't know if this applies to all campuses, but at mine you should really only wear your bf's letters if you are lavaliered or engaged.

gotcha! thank you :)