Do you know other GLOs' secret info?
 

This might not last long, but I'm really curious.

I know that a few GCers, for example wptw, are ritual researchers and know a lot of info about a lot of GLOs.

However, have you ever had someone from another GLO tell you secret information? Perhaps even without your asking them to do so? If so, what is your relationship to that person?

I know basically all of the info for one fraternity. My good guy friend told me one time--this chapter lost their charter on my campus. I also accidentally found some of their initiation stuff one time in their house when I was looking for my lost camera (before they got kicked off, obviously).:eek: I also know a few things here and there about other sororities on campus due to drunk members spilling details.

Not that I consider the behavior above particularly appropriate--at no time did I solicit information from anyone. But, for example, I've had friends tell me their parents told them info about their GLOs from college....

I know the handshake of a sorority... and I know some stuff (although not necessarily ritual) about another sorority that I shouldn't know... but it was all volunteered to me... I would never ask anyone for this info because honestly if you're not in the GLO it doesn't have the same meaning anyway...

OH yes, yes i do...I know secret handshakes, meanings of letters, challenges, rituals, etc etc....

I know the handshake of two sororities and the secret motto of one and I know the secret motto of a fraternity. They were all told to me by drunken members while I was sober. ;) Still, it does not have the same meaning to me as it does to the members of these organizations and it's not information that I pass along to others.

I was shown the handshake of a frat once. I can't remember it as it was shown to me about 5 years ago. Plus, I don't really feel comfortable knowing that kind of info. So, I am glad my memory is awful.

No comment.

That means yes.

I know the meaning behind the letters of 3 fraternities and 2 other sororities. :D They were drunk, I was sober. I did get really pissed one time though when a member of a fraternity came up and told me what my letters meant. He was engaged to one of our older sisters (graduated 2 years before my time), and they had "traded" secrets.

I've wondered about this before. If, back then, when GLOs were being founded, it was standard for the students to study things such as the Greek language, didn't they all know the meanings behind each other's letters?

I plead the Fif.

ha ha ha, quiz me!

Grips: There are only so many handshakes one can do, you'll figure it out.
Mottos: Grab the orgs. pledge manual, and read between the lines.

I know about one of my ex's fraternity stuff...he told me one time, I really don't know why. I didn't tell him a darn thing. I supposedly know another sororities grip, but I doubt it's really right. One of our older members told me because her cousin was in this org, but I don't know if that is really it.

Kinda sad that so many people just spill the beans on their orgs under the influence.:(

After reading Pledged I "know" some stuff (all of which I take with a grain of salt).

I've been told by a fraternity member that he knew our secrets. But I don't think he does.

Don't know about that. There could be tons of meanings behind all the letters, considering all the word combinations they could have had.

A lot of my family members are Greek and I remember one time playing in the same room while my mom and aunt talked about ritual (they were in the same GLO). But that was so long ago I don't remember. If I asked she might tell me but I really don't care?

A few years ago the theme for my chapter's big fall date function was Caesar's Palace so everyone wore togas or similar attire. There were several guys there from XYZ fraternity and they were all wearing these robe things. The rumor was that the robes were part of their ritual. We all thought it was very bizarre that they would do that, but I never heard anyone ask them if the robes really were a part of their ritual.

I really don't understand why people share their ritual with other people outside of their org. I mean it's not like if someone were to find out the secrets that anything bad would happen, but I just don't see the point. And I really don't understand spilling the beans when you're drunk unless you are someone who wouldn't care about telling your secrets whether you were sober or drunk.

Hopefully that grain of salt is lining a margarita glass! :p
Yes Pledged and those SECRETS sites should be taken as gospel :rolleyes:

LoL.. yep.. especially since Miss Robbins is an expert on sororities!:p

A friend from a different sorority was the ritual chair and kept her robe in plain view after their initiation. So, I know what their robes look like. They were nice, with very pretty trim.

Oh you know it is! One giant grain of salt to go with my giant margarita!

Yes, some.

I know some information about my ex-boyfriend's fraternity, however, I don't really remember because that was so long ago. And I don't care to remember. I also know a little bit about one sorority here at Ole Miss, my freshman roommate got drunk one night and proceeded to tell me all sorts of stuff, I just sat there and kept on telling her to be quiet. However, I've never shared her organization's secrets and I don't think it would be right to share them. Anyway, I don't want to know anyone else's secrets and rituals because I have my own which I hold dear to my heart and I'm a member of one fraternity and one set of letters, not many!

Not really. I know just a very very little bit about my husband's, which I don't even really remember. I'm curious about other org's ritual but not to the point where I really want to know what it is.

I've had guys come up and give me our grip before, which irritates me, but it's true, they don't know the meaning behind anything so why should I let it bother me.

I just learned our officer robes aren't really a part of ritual, so anyone can see them. Surprised the heck out of me when I learned that!

And I have to wonder whether people actually told Ms. Robbins information or if she heard it second-hand. A bit of both, probably.

edited because I meant aren't a part of our ritual

But realistically, if you see a heart or some outward symbol of "love" on a crest of an organization that has a "Phi" in their name, you're going to be pretty sure that means philia, for love. I have pretty good guesses as to quite a few groups rituals based on studying their crests and a vocabulary of 300 Greek words from the NT.

Whats funny is when ppl think they know what your letters mean and its totally off....Some idiots at my school think that PiKA stands for Praise King Arthur...OH NO! I gave away the secret!!!

I really think that this is a great answer, and probably one that many of us would be able to say with all honesty.

At one time or another, I suspect that all of our rituals and other secrets have been revealed by disgruntled former members, or even by accident.

If someone were to ask me face to face, I think I would "just say no."

Unless you have experienced or witness the ritual, how would you know - without a doubt - what you have been told is true?

Even people who are drunk can make stuff up! :D

i never saw any ritual stuff, but one org left their blinds up and windows uncovered during voting. anyone walking by could see exactly what was going on. by the time they realized,there was a group of people standing outside, guys& girls,greek & non-greek.

my one friend told me what her letters mean when she was drunk. but i have kept it quiet out of respect.

I have never told anyone what I was told either. I don't think there's anything wrong with admitting you've been told someone else's secrets...as long as you're not running around saying "Delta Omega Mu means Down with the Man!"

As for people spilling the beans, I don't really know how to explain it. Maybe they did lie. Maybe they just can't keep a secret. Maybe they didn't respect their GLO and just didn't care who knew. Maybe they were new and didn't realize they weren't supposed to share. Maybe they were caught up in the heat of the moment and were really excited about being an XYZ they shared it w/ someone who wasn't a member w/o even thinking. Maybe they were a disgruntled and possibly former member so they did it out of spite. I dont' know. All I know is that I would never, EVER tell anyone anything about Alpha Xi, and I hope that every one of my sisters feels the same way, but I'm sure that's not the case.

ETA: Isn't there a fraternity whose ritual meaning is open? Am I imagining that? If so, why would they have an open ritual like that?

ETA: I think there's a big difference b/w knowing the handshake and what the robes look like and knowing what the letters mean...but that's just me. But I agree with a previous poster - I haven't seen the ritual or learned all the other info, so it doesn't mean anything to me other than a phrase.

One fraternity used to teach pledges ritual stuff and haze them right in front of us when we worked with them for a semester. I have seen a few people on message boards speculate about this houses ritual and stuff, and what they've said usually correlates with what we saw.

A funny story, though- One night, I was at a party, and this guy from a different house than the one above was WASTED and talking to me. I was only continuing the conversation b/c it was really entertaining, anyway....I said goodbye, and he grabs my hand and did this secret handshake thing.
His eyes get huge, and he goes "OH SHIT! I just initiated you into XYZ!" and BEGGED me for the rest of the nigth not to tell anyone. It was hilarious.

Professional fraternities.

i.e. members of PFA

What's PFA?

That's not necessarily true. But the fraternity I'm thinking of is social.

I know three fraternity handshakes and one sorority initiation. The secrets are kinda fun to know, but its really not that big of a deal. Its special if its you doing them.

What group wears robes for initiation- Guess you can't tell me that.... Are you a Chi O at NCSU?

Delta Upsilon's ritual is open. I think the founders didn't like the secretiveness of the other socieities on campus. On my campus they alum initiated the president of the university and did the ritual in front of the entire greek community. Their ritual book is even on their website.

Delta Upsilon, which was founded in 1834 with the express intent of opposing the secrecy of the two existing fraternities at Williams College. The founders of Delta Upsilon believed that these fraternities had abused their secrecy by conspiring to have their members elected to campus offices, regardless of qualification. They decided that their fraternity would not be secret, so that no one could make a similar accusation against it. (Keep in mind that in the first half of the nineteenth century, fraternity secrecy often involved more than just the details of the ritual -- on some campuses, membership and meeting time and place were secret.)

You can read Delta Upsilon's initiation ritual at their website here (Adobe Acrobat required).

There is at least one other NIC member with an open, but "private," ritual (that is, they allow non-members at their rituals, but by invitation), but which one it is escapes me.

There may well be some members of the Professional Fraternity Association with open rituals, but every PFA member I am familiar with keeps its ritual secret.

ETA: You were a little faster than me on the "Submit" button, seraphimsprite. ;)

Of course! Thanks!

I'm not sure about other members of the Professional Fraternity Association, but I know for a fact (since I'm a member ;) ) that all ritual-related stuff for Delta Sigma Pi is not "open".

Maybe there are some PFA GLOs that have open ritual, but not all of them do. :)

I remember one day I was talking to some of my ADPi sisters about Delta Sigma Pi, and they were surprised to learn that we had secret stuff just like we did with ADPi. They thought the process for the professional fraternities were you get a bid card, and poof! you're a member! They were surprised to learn we had ritual stuff too.

I believe Phi Beta Chi also has open ritual. Our oldest sister who's a FBC tried to get me and my other sister (who's also a Kappa) to tell her our ritual. She didn't really get why it was secret since hers is open. We wouldn't. I think we probably gave her a wedgie for even asking. ;)

Tau Beta Sigma's are not open. I have to admit some quiet curiosity, though, as to how similar our ritual secrets are to our brother fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi. (I don't know... never have been nosey enough to seek it out out of respect) :)

~ Mel.

I don't know secrets of my bf's fraternity only because him and I don't talk about that stuff. I do see stuff that is used in their rituals aroung their house and when I ask what it is for they say "Ritual" and I go "okay" and never ask futher questions (sometimes I just don't wanna know why they use what I see lol).

As for sororities, I only know what I read outta pledge...if they even true or not. I did have the chance to go through a pledge manual of another sorority but decided against it because well, I'd hope she wouldn't do the same.

Thank you MysticCat81, for clearing that up for me too.

I'd wondered for a long time what Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia members as the org is social but had been professional thought about the fact its rituals would have been public when it had professional status and was a member of the PFA but when they changed to social status and became part of the NIC again the rituals would have been made secret... but there would still be copies out there.
It was all a bit confusing and I got very mixed up over the details as you can see! :)

Now I know they were and are a member of the PFA, never NIC and that their rituals were always secret. Think I got that right?

eta: I also learnt that very many PFA members have closed rituals (etc) so I have learnt quite a bit from this thread.