fiji tattoo
 

I have a friend who is a fiji, and I know already that its disrespectful to wear your actual letters on shirts/etc. However, he has the letters tattooed down his arm. I was wondering if this was an exception, and its okay..? Out of curiousity. :)

I see none of the FIJIs are answering, so I'll step in. When I went to UIFI I'm pretty sure one of the FIJIs there said they can only have their greek letters tattooed behind their right ear, inside of one of their ankles, or inside of their lower lip :eek:

if I'm wrong, please feel free to correct me...

interesting..! his are down his right arm, each letter is about 1.5 inches tall. Its a pretty big/obvious tattoo!

Behind the ear and lower lip would freaking kill. I am sorry but havent heard that before. I couldnt imagine anyone getting a tattoo on their lip

to my best knowledge the letters of phi gamma delta may only be tatooed on the inner right ankle or forearm in font no larger than 20 font.

The letters should "never" be tattooed but it's a well accepted practice (even for fiji's working @ international).

Generally however it's kept to the ankle and arm as phigamucsb mentioned.

A large amount of the guys here have it tattooed on the inside of their left foot, right below their ankle along with their chapter letters and pledge class letters.

This guy from nationals just came to out chapter and although he had it tatooed on his arm he said you are technically not suppossed to get it tatooed at all.

Can't speak for everyone else, but mine is on the insid eof my ankle. I know guys from my chapter have it on the ankle or the bicep. And from what I hear, lots of people have them, even though we "aren't".

There was a guy at my college who was golfing w/o a shirt around campus and he had the greek letters tattooed on the left side of his chest, over his heart....dunno if that's permissible, but that's where it was!

Letters
 

By Fraternity law, our Greek letters may only be used in six official places: fraternity buildings, flag, badge, seal, membership certificate, and memorials (i.e. gravestones).

Our laws do not accomodate any other location. Our laws do not permit use of our Greek letters for any bodily markings (despite any claims to the contrary). The laws also specifically prohibit the display of our Greek letters on jewlery like rings or lavaliers.

I like to think the letters are emblazoned on every brother's heart and in the wake of his upright conduct. Let's keep it that way.

Fraternally,

Towner

Fiji Letters
 

Towner,

Thanks for the clarification on letters! A quick follow-up: Over the past year I have seen a number of historical items show up on Ebay that are engraved with Phi Gamma Delta's greek letters... many of these items clearly originated from within the fraternity; i.e. paddles, mugs, awards, composite pictures, etc. This would lead me to the conclusion that Phi Gamma Delta did not always have a prohibition on display of greek letters. What year did the current doctrine on display of letters become official fraternity law? Secondly, any background on why the law was enacted?

Thanks,

mcellpe

Official Places for Greek Letters
 

Towner,

Just a clarification on your clarification (Lol) There are seven places... you missed one... Phi Gamma Delta's greek letters can also be placed on your college ring.

Moe
Florida International University
Sigma Phi
Miami, FL

My big sis at Ole Miss was the FJIJ sweetheart and they gave her a drop with Phi Gamma Delta....

Even though the fraternity says 7 places there is actually one other exception, which is official jewlery approved by the fraternity that is purchased through a dealer. One just happens to be a sweetheart drop.

Is that something you specifically read in the laws of the Fraternity? To my knowledge, lavaliers are not an approved location for the Greek letters.

Nevermind, I must have misread that part during pledgeship. I thought it said right after the 7 places something to the extent of the official jewelery approved by the fraternity. But anyway, what OleMissGlitter is probably speaking of is found at the follwing link: http://www.mastersofdesign.com/Multi...T=1&CL=29&C=53 . It's the officialy sweetheart pendant, pin, and charm.

Thanks for the link, Mike- nice "sweetheart" badge. But this brings up a question- if jeweled badges are prohibited, and the badge is never supposed to be worn as ornamental jewelry, why does MOD make a "sweetheart" pin? As MOD is the official jeweler, this appears to be sanctioned by IHQ. Have the rules changes since I was an undergrad?

Hello

Jamie, Beta Sigma Chapter, first time poster....im a fijiholoic....

NEWAY, thast not a jeweled BADGE, per se, its a jeweled sweeheart pendant. A replica, but unofficial, if you will.

The official Badge can never be worn as ordamentation.

Does that make sense?

The 7 places that are acceptable for the Greek letters of Phi Gamma Delta to be seen are

1. Chapter House Marker
2. Official Badge
3. Fraternity Ring
4. Certificate of Membership
5. Flag
6. Seal
7. Memorial to Members

Now, as regards to the tattoo on the ankle. Back in the days of the Civil War, it was tradition for soldiers to get the tattoo in rememberance of their fallen brothers in the war. Therefore, the tattoo is technically classified under a "Memorial to Members" which is why it is allowed.

That's a new one. Interesting theory, but I am not sure that IHQ or the laws of the fraternity would support that position. See Towner's post on the subject earlier in this thread for more info on what the fraternity's official position is. (Since he is a national officer in the organization, I would tend to accept his position as official).

Now as for place #3 on your list (Fraternity Ring), I thought this was an approved location, but Towner's post does not support this either. Sure enough, if you consult your PP, you will find that a class (or fraternity) ring is not listed among the approved places.

Cheers,

mcellpe

Check the new PP. "Official College Ring" is listed as the 7th place

I have been cabinet officer, pledge ed, recruitment chair of my chapter, and know the fraternity history, by laws and ritual very well. With all this combined knowledge, here are some answers to previous posts:

The fraternity letters can only be put in the following places:

1. Chapter House Marker
2. Official Badge
3. Fraternity Ring
4. Certificate of Membership
5. Flag
6. Seal
7. Memorial to Members

However, it is also stated that the fraternity letters can be put in "the official publications of the fraternity." This means that any illustration, picture or piece of jewelry "officially published" or sanctioned by headquarters can bare the greek letters Phi Gamma Delta.

This explains why the official jewler has lavaliers and "Sweetheart pendants" with the greek letters. This also explains why steel engravings, pictures, glass panes, etc. (some of which can be found on ebay) also have the fraternity letters.

My chapter house has a 2 X 4 foot glass pane that has the Phi Gamma Delta letters (the glass pane is not bound to the house; rather, it is a seperate object that can be picked up, moved around, and be placed anywhere for decoration within the house). This was not something created by an individual (as it looks too good for the working of any college student). It is an old artificat created a long time ago (no actual date known), presumably with permission from headquarters.

-Owais Ahmed
Iota Chi '05

Tattoos are common, but not officially allowed.

It's becoming a common practice in our chapter to get a Black Diamond + Star tattoo - which looks great and is a cool alternative to the letters.

I had heard it was a more modern war (Vietnam if I remember correctly.) but the story was almost identical for the reasoning behind ankle tattoos.

Total lane swerve, but can anyone tell me why FIJI doesn't allow letters to be worn like most GLOs? I don't know any FIJIs (they aren't on my campus) and I've always wondered!