Who can buy letters?
 

This is probably a dumb question...

Is there any restriction as to who can buy letters?

My little sister (blood relation, not sorority!) bought me a sweatshirt with my letters on it. I love it, but I just wanted to make sure that she didn't break some rule about having to be a member to buy letters, and that I'm not breaking any rules about wearing letters that aren't self-purchased or from my big.

In that case, would I be able to buy another sorority's letters for a friend who was in that sorority?

Thanks :)

There is no restriction on who can purchase letters. You're good.

I bought a couple sets of letter shirts when my D was initiated and had them shipped to her at school. The company certainly didn't care.

Better to be safe than sorry, so that's good to hear! :)

I bought letters for my Dad...they say "ASA...FKT Dad". Anyone can buy letters for anyone...if you had to be a member, they'd ask you for some sort of proof before you purchase.

It's a sweatshirt, not a 6-pack. No one is going to ID you.

Oh and if you're Catholic, it's ok to get your friend's daughter a Bat Mitzvah present. Just in case you were wondering.

LOLZ.

LOL

Haha I was wondering when the snarks were going to start feeding.

At least the OP prefaced with "This is probably a dumb question..." so she knew they were coming.;)

Well, I've read threads about Greeks freaking out when their significant others/family members wore or used their letters, so you have to admit, it is kind of a valid question.

I was just initiated in the spring, so I haven't bought any letters yet. I didn't know if there was some kind of a process to buy them.

I figured it was just better to be sure.

Well wearing is different than buying. I'd be PO'd if I saw my sister wearing my letter hoodie (not that she would but you know...). It's totally legit for anyone to buy letters to give to someone else, just not for everyone to wear them.

Even then there's really no way we can enforce this policy. I know of a situation once were a girl got her pin pulled for um ... er ... let's just say inappropriate behaviors. She continued to wear her letters and told people she was a member. Everyone was very upset because they didn't want to be associated with her at all. But what can you do? Break into her apartment and take everything with letters on it?

It's situations like these that really made me wonder about my question... because there's no way to stop anyone from buying letters for any GLO and pretending to be part of it! Like I said, my sister bought me letters for my birthday, but who knows, what if she really just wanted to wear them herself? And there's no one that could stop the girl in the situation above from buying more letters!

I guess it's not the store's responsibility, and I hope people wouldn't stoop that low, but that's really why I was wondering about the topic. :)

I'd be curious about the protocol for GLO who don't outright wear letters (such as FIJI) for when good old mom goes online to find out what FIJI stands for and then buys her son Peter a couple shirts for Christmas. Even further, would sites even sell these shirts?

My guess would be the member would tuck the shirts away somewhere and not wear them. Whether or not they explained why they arent wearing them to their mother or chose to forwarn family members about purchasing items with letters on them is the member's issue.

I would assume pledges are told something to the effect of "we dont wear letters until such & such time" when they pledge, thus I would assume these kinds of situations are fairly rare.

I think that most stores that are focused on Greek wear know that FIJI doesn't wear letters, that Acacia's letters are AKAK...I'm going to go try out this theory.

somethinggreek doesn't have Phi Gamma Delta listed, they only have FIJI, and they don't have Acacia or AKAK shirts at all.

Greek Gear has Phi Gamma Delta listed but then all the shirts under it say FIJI. They have Acacia shirts, but it's Acacia spelled out, not AKAK.

I have learned something today. I can go to bed now.

I actually searched and found this thread, so I'm wrong: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...?t=8372&page=3

I'm betting, though, that there are still chapters out there that use the AKAK letters just to have something to put on a sweatshirt.

So does this mean I've learned yet something else for today, and can go to bed now? Please?

No, it means what you learned before is wrong so you have to stay up all night now!