Why is the phi in alpha phi pronounced fee and not fye
 

anyone know?

I'm sure the Alpha Phis know.

b/c it sounds funny as fye?


;)

Actually, I was told that it was the proper pronunciation of Phi following a vowel, but I've heard something else too. I think there's another thread about it on here somewhere.

because thats how they want it?

this is what I've always heard too. Same with the letter Xi. Alpha *Zee* Delta, but for example, two chapters near here are Delta Xi and Zeta Xi and the Xi is pronouced *zye* for both of those.

I'd be interested to know how the girls in the local Zeta Xi Delta pronounce their Xi...

Paging MysticCat!

The ADPi New Member Handbook has both the Greek and the English pronunciation of each of the Greek letters. The Alpha Phis use the Greek Phi, not the English one.

That, or their founder was this really, really tall giant, who owned a castle at the top of a hugely tall beanstalk. When a bad little kid named Jack climbed the beanstalk, sneaked into the castle, and stole the giant's gold (which was called "Alpha" in his kingdom), the giant suddenly woke up and yelled, "FEE, Fie, Fo, Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!" Jack got scared and tried to run, but he dropped the Alpha just as the giant was starting his "Fee, Fie, Fo, Fum!" bit again. The giant liked the sound of his money being saved "Alpha" next to his "Fee" and he became the sound mixer for this fantastic group of women, whom he called the Alpha Fees.

This is what I was told during college.

It really has nothing to do with that. Honeychile sums it up best.

I know this sounds really weird, but in geology, we use a lot of greek letters (as in all sciences) well... the greek letter phi is used as a measure of grain size (like medium sand is a 2 phi grain and a fine sand is a 4 phi... it has to do with the diameter of the grain, but I digress) anyway, we pronounce it "fee" in geology. Though I think it's because saying "fye size" doesn't roll off the tongue as well as "fee size"

You called? Just when I was headed to bed, too, so I'll stick to the short explanation.

Which is, basically, rufio and honeychile are right. It has nothing to do with coming after a vowel, (or technically, after the name of a vowel) -- that's a Greek Urban legend. The name of F is spelled Fi in Greek, and the Iota, like "i" in most European languages other than English, represents an "ee" sound, not an "eye" sound. So, "FEE" is the Greek pronunciation. Always. "FYE" is an anglicized, mainly American, pronunciation. The Alpha Phis chose to use the Greek pronunciations, while most of the rest of us use anglicized pronunciations.

And in case anyone is wondering, the correct pronuncitions of the names of the letters X, P, C and Y are "KSEE" (pronoucing both the K and the S), "PEE," "CHEE" (with the "ch" like in Scottish "loch") and "PSEE" (pronouncing both the P and the S).

Now, that really was short for me. ;)

/hijack
Yay, another female geologist! ;)
/end hijack

See, I knew about I(ee)ota, but I didn't know about X, P, C and Y. So, it's really, Chee Omega. And Kappa Kappa Ksee. And Phee Sigma Pee. You know a friend of mine told me that P but I thought he was just making a joke cuz he's a little anti greek.

Well, of course you did, my dear SAI. ;) Although in Greek, the Iota and the Omega form a "rising diphthong" (two vowel sounds pronounced together with the emphasis on the second vowel sound), so that the Iota becomes a gliding semivowel and the word is pronounced "YOTA."

Now, if that wasn't enough Greek letter trivia of the day:

Did you know that Omega and Omicron simply mean "Big O" or "Great O" (O mega) and "Little O" (O mikron)?

Soooo....

according to what you guys are saying, my chapter is calling our chapter designation "wrong"? Hahah. Iota Theta, but we pronounce it eye-oh-ta.

Not necessarily. If your GLO is accustomed to using the English pronounciation, then that's fine. If they prefer the Greek, that's fine, too. Think of it as an accent - just because you know an (American) sweater is an (English) jumper, it would sound affected if you said "jump-ah", wouldn't it?

Nah. You may not be using accepted Greek pronunciation, but (like most GLOs), you're using accepted anglicized/American pronunciation.

Most GLOs pronounce it "eye-o-ta." As AlwaysSAI alludes to, however, SAI does not.

I was refering to speaking it correctly, in greek. I understand the anglecan-asion of it, but like, to really speak the greek.

It can vary by campus as well.

Iota sounds more like Yota than EEota. Alpha Omicron Pee sounds funny, so I'm glad we use the anglicized version!

didn't we have a big discussion about this before. Taw vs Tau, Fye vs Fee, OoPsilon vs Yoopsilon.

Many times we've had this discussion. I fear we will have it many more times.

Are you saying when you say Alpha Xi Delta you pronounce Zee not Xi? Just asking becasue at my school they say Alpha Xi Delta but when saying the letters they say it as AZD but write AXD. Always had wondered why they said Zee instead of Xi. Same with Alpha Phi.

ummm....we pronounce the Xi as "zee" not "zye."

Yes, we say AZD, because Xi is pronounced Zee. AZD is the pronounced the same was a AXiD (Ay Zee Dee) but we are not Alpha 'Zeta' Delta so when we write it out we write wither AXD or AXiD. (or better yet, use the actual greek letters).


ETA: Wanted to share my FAVORITE Alpha Xi song....It'll clear some of this up (haha)

*To the tune of the Oscar Mayer song...*

My sorority has a first name.....It's A-L-P-H-A
My sorority has a last name.....It's D-E-L-T-A
The middle name is hard, you see
It's spelled X-I, pronounced ZEEEEEEE
*fast* A-L-P-H-A-X-I, D-E-L-T-A, goodbye!

For chapter namess, we sometimes pronounce Xi "Zye" and sometimes "Zee." And many of our our Michigan chapter members seem to pronounce their chapter name name "Beta Eks-zye." Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.:rolleyes:

MystiCat, thanks so much for the lesson. Fascinating!

I understood the whole AXD not AZD thing. I was just giving background info as to my school. I actually meet AXD's at another school and they pronounced it Zye as well. In bot cases they say A Zee D for short but Alpha Zye Delta in the long form. Just found it interesting that your chapter pronounces it different.

What is the official pronounciation and shouldn't all chapters pronounce it the same?

The official pronuncation of Alpha Xi Delta is Alpha KSEE Delta .. but usually said Alpha ZEE Delta and as far as I know every chapter of Alpha Xi Delta says ZEE ... some do say Zye for their chapter name - as in Zeta Zye for the chapter at Auburn but it was Zee chapter at the University of Kentucky.

If they were pronouncing it Alpha Zye Delta, someone needs to wack 'em upside the head.... :D Maybe they were just being funny? I hope so anyway...I really hope I don't have sisters out there that are that...um, uninformed.

To be honest, the first time I saw the fliers around campus when we were colonizing...that's what I thought it was called. Then one of the national VPs who I interviewed with corrected me.

Somehow I missed your post, Mystic Cat! I probably just didn't see that there was a whole second page of posts. Wow...it's amazing how often this subject comes up!!

but when my A-Phi friends say it
they say A FEE [short form]
but Alpha FYE [long form]
is that just me... or did i miss something?

No...it's always Alpha Phi (Fee)! If they told you different, they're just pulling your leg!

Boy, did I ever learn that pronunciation! :D

The Sigma Alpha Iota chapter at the hometown university hosts an all campus sing competition. While the judges are tallying their votes, the SAIs perform and would end their performance with a very lovely - and quite slow - song about their sisterhood. At the end of the song, they sing "Sigma Alpha Iota" and would always draw out Iota. More or less as in "E-O-TA". At first, I figured it was all the Southern accents. Later I was informed by SAI friends of the correct pronunciation.

Hi! We pronounce our Xi like zi.. rhyming with hi

Alpha Phi is pronounced Alpha "Fee" not Alpha "Fi" because "fee" is the classical and ancient Greek pronunciation of the letter Phi and our founders advisor, Professor Coddington, advised them to pronounce it Fee.

He was a really neat guy.

After reading this thread and having a head explosion, I've decided that I'll stick with English pronunciations unless otherwise stated.

I always say Alpha "Fye" Alpha but always say Alpha "Fee," anyway, because the Alpha Phis on my campus said it that way.

I loved the Oscar Meyer rendition, btw!!!

In essence, the difference lies in the pronunciation of classical vs. modern (Demotic) Greek. In modern Greek, diphthongs and some vowels are spoken as e-class vowels. (e.g., oi as in oil = long e; eta= long e).