drinking with letter pins?
 

i know there have been lots of threads about drinking with letters, but does anyone know if there is some specific rule about lettered pins?

my cousin goes to tulane, and i won't say what chapter, but in ALL of her "going out" pictures, she and her sisters are wearing various lettered pins with ribbon underneath, while drinking. that seems crazy to me because it is definitely drinking with letters, and i know that her GLO most definitely does not allow it... but does the pin thing vary by chapter? or is this just a tulane thing? i find it very strange. it's almost like some kind of marketing thing gone very wrong.

Do you mean the metal pins that say "I heart ABC" or whatever? You don't mean actual badges do you?

haha no, not badges.. the metal pins

Drinking in letters is drinking in letters, whether a badge, letter shirt or other item.

Caution: The Surgeon General Warns that drinking may lead to wearing Lettered Thongs, Cheerleader butt shorts, and hideous I LOVE MY GLO buttons. Please drink responsibly.

love it. :D

Re: drinking with letter pins?
 

I am from New Orleans and I can remember going to Madigan's a few years ago and members of a sorority were there and they were wearing some "I heart XYZ" buttons. I think it is the culture of the Greek Life down there. It is probably not endorsed per say; meaning I'm sure they know better than to do that. However in their defense I will say this, they were drinking but they were behaving like ladies. I don't condone it at all but I guess sometimes things happen and people do things that do reflect poorly on our NPC organizations. I'm sure many college students wear their letters out at Spring Break....the best thing to do I think is to educate our members about when to wear letters and not to wear letters.

Should the rule be so simple? I'm hesitant to even suggest this to some collegians, but use your good judgment.

Come on, it's not so simple to distinguish between these two scenarios:

1) You want to go to a party where you intend to do kegstands, take part in obscene chants and drinking games, etc. This would not be the best time to wear letters, a pin, etc.

versus

2) You're at a formal dining event for your chapter, area chapter, or whatever. There you want to have a glass of wine with your steak... or maybe a scotch and soda or something to that effect. In this situation so long as you can drink responsibly, I don't really see a problem with making your affiliation known.

Sometimes, I think it'd be a lot easier if we were to just replace our respective risk management policies with one all-encompassing statement: "Don't be a dumbass."

At my school, some of those I Heart XYZ buttons are worn by others (usually XYZ boyfriends or fraternity greek week partners). I don't know how you can regulate them drinking or not drinking while wearing the pin -- fortunately, the pins are usually on backpacks or messenger bags and not the person.

I think the problem here is our drinking culture...or rather young people's drinking culture. If we've been taught to drink "properly," as in the second way ktsnake described, then GLOs/umbrella groups of GLOs would never have had such a rule for PEOPLE WHO ARE LEGALLY OLD ENOUGH TO DRINK. Unfortunately, we live in a culture where drinking can end up being crazy. :(

Out of curiosity, does this have anything to do with how greek life exists is different areas of the country? For example, the two schools mentioned here, Clemson and Tulane, are in South Carolina and Lousianna, respectively.

For us, drinking while wearing a lettered pin would be considered the same as drinking while wearing a lettered t-shirt, sweatshirt, etc.: Don't. If you're planning on drinking, leave your paraphernalia home - all of it.

LOL @ AlphaFrog's post.

aephi alum---where is your chapter located?

For us, it would be the same as drinking in letters, my lavalier or anything with Delta Phi Epsilon on it.

In my chapter, we aren't allowed to be around alcohol, bars or any where alcohol is served or sold, in letters; restaurants are an exception. No AOII flip-flops, letter shirts, party shirts, jewlery or bags. We don't want alcohol near our letters. The ladies in my chapter are pretty serious about this stuff. We make sure that everyone's facebook and my spaces are nice too. No underage drinking, no letters and alcohol or drugs on them. That's just a bylaw in our chapter though, the other sororities on campus may be different.

What about the grocery store/convenience store?

I'm sure I'm the only one that found this comment amusing, but I did. It almost reads like they're afraid their letters may be influenced by the alcohol.

Or spilled on. :(


I hate when some drunk person would spill beer on my letter shirts

Massachusetts.

Oh - and my local (that later became a chapter of AEPhi) had even stricter rules. No letters, badges, pins, etc. anywhere alcohol was being served or sold. No exceptions - if you wanted to go to a restaurant with a liquor license, you'd better not be wearing letters. No problem with grocery stores, because alcohol can't be sold in grocery stores in MA (not even beer).

I totally understand. I wouldn't want to see a sister at Kroger or Wal-Mart picking up a case of beer with her letters blazin' across her chest. The same goes for liquor stores. It is very hard to patrol this when it does happen, but it's all about being smart when you wear your letters. Just like you wouldn't give someone the bird with your letters on a front license plate or a big sticker in the back window.

I don't want to see ANYONE in their GLO letters buying ANYTHING at WalMart ever. Then again nobody would see it if they weren't there themselves!

Wal-Mart not elite enough? It's cheap and when you're in college, that's what really counts. xoheatherxo and I go there all the time, usually at 2am, and usually one of us is wearing letters.

You are ridiculous. So you happily waste your husband's money? Glad that "elite" education taught you the value of a dollar. Walmart is white trash heaven, but you know what, you can't beat their prices on a lot of stuff- H&BA, some food, prescriptions, etc. Hell, I buy my pantyhose there because it's by far the best prices. Clothes and shoes on the other hand... a little more questionable b/c most of it is pretty gross.

What if you're underage in one juristriction, but not the other. Can someone from your chapter say that she went on a wine tour with her parents in Niagra Falls, Ontario or Italy? What if someone complains that she did that, not realizing that the legal drinking age is younger? Also, what would a pub constitute as, a bar or a restaurant?

It's not uncommon for a U.S. chapter to have their formal in Canada. Doing so allows most of the members and their guests to legally partake in adult beverages of choice.

Yeah it can. I think it just depends on the store though, the Roche Brothers by Bwater sells all kinds of alcohol..Beer, wines, smirnoffs..whatever.

And don't forget the always obvious, I was so wasted, I got my letters tattooed on my ass!!!

u cant wear letters anywhere that alcohol is sold? i understand not going to the bar in letters or going to a party in letters, or a liquor store in letters, but nowhere that its sold? that means you cant go to a gas station in most places cause they sell beer?? thats crazy!!! and whats wrong with walmart?? i wouldnt buy clothes there, but so many other things are just cheaper than other places. must be nice to have enough money to not have to shop for things on sale ever!

That must be new... or possibly some cities and towns allow beer sales in grocery stores, and others don't. I used to do my grocery shopping at a store in Central Square (that isn't there anymore) where you could buy liquor, but the liquor section was off in a little caged-in area in the corner, with a separate cash register, so it was essentially a separate "store within a store". That was as close as grocery stores could get to selling alcohol.

I should clarify that the "no letters anywhere alcohol was being sold" rule was from my local, not AEPhi. We wanted to avoid even the slightest association between our letters and alcohol... personally I think it was overkill, but the rules are the rules. I doubt AEPhi would have a problem with my wearing letters while doing my grocery shopping, as long as I wasn't heading for the cash register with a cart full of nothing but cases and cases of beer. :p

I don't believe in supporting stores that decimate small business across America and treat their employees like dirt (low wages, minimal health insurance, no unions allowed).

And yes, you can wait for sales at other stores.

Well that's your belief (which, incidentally, i somewhat agree with but i've got bills i've gotta pay), but it doesn't mean you can force that belief upon your sisters and other greeks.

You and I somewhat agree on something? That has got to be a first! :)

Stating my beliefs doesn't mean forcing them on others. I am well aware that there are many opinions out there and I am stating mine.

Do I really think people will change their shopping habits? No

Do I think GLOs will forbid the wearing of letters to certain stores? No

I agree - write that one down. I'd rather go without it than buy it at Walmart.

However, the thought of not being able to wear letters to someplace like TGIFriday's or in the gas station because there's alcohol there is just ri-damn-diculous, IMO. If our founders would have obsessed about minutiae like this there wouldn't be any sororities.

I'm pretty sure it's fairly new. The Shaws I go to at Copley sells it.

They're not illegal either and a store shouldn't stop them from forming to the degree Walmart does. If the union turns out to suck that's the employees' problem.

The employees at Wal-Mart are usually not earning a sufficient salary to cover their coshare of health insurance.

And you're basing that on???

Have you ever worked there??

Oh, by the way, I have (in high school, but I knew several lifers). The insurance co-share is extremely reasonable for what you make if you are full time. The profit sharing is excellent too. At just part time, and only there 1/2 year at profit sharing time, I got a check for $200. Now mutiply that by people who have been there for years at full time and that's a significant amount. I'm not saying it's a great living, but for those people who don't have the education and/or experience to do anything else, it's not bad.

Case studies in business school, media reports etc.

Which business school would that be??

And, please, the media?? Would that be the media that reported Brit & K. Fed's divorce, the one that reported the 3 headed wolf dog, or the one that reported on Bush's false military documents????