[TSteven]

Originally posted by MysticCat81
I agree completely. That's a major reason I think the analogy referenced above fails -- because it is used to support an argument that it is disrespectful or offensive per se to shorten the name of an institution. That argument won't fly, though, because we shorten names all the time in English. The argument you make is the persuasive one.

And for the record, I don't use the word "frat" myself. But I don't fly off the handle if someone else does. Keying in on your key word "respect," I can usually tell by context whether the person using "frat" means it disrespectfully or not. If I can tell that the person doesn't mean to be disrespectful and it's appropriate under the circumstances, I might say "you know, many fraternity members don't like the word 'frat' because of the connotations it carries." If the person actually means to be disrespectful, I figure nothing I say is going to change their attitude.

I like to think of anything that happened during my life time as being recent. Sadly, that perspective is a bit warped.

From my memory (being around the same age as you) and from having looked at some contemporary writings and the like, terms like "frat rat" would always have been derogatory, but as late as the 60s and early 70s, "frat house," "we're frat brothers" or "are you in a frat?" would not be considered derogatory -- the Greek equivalent of "ain't," perhaps, but not derogatory. If you go back earlier, I actually came across a song in a fraternity song book (from the first half of the 20th Century) that made reference to the "dear old Frat." I think the deliberate move away from the term had a lot to do with the impetus in the mid-late 70s and following years to, for want of a better term, "rehabilitate" the general image of fraternities.

Excellent post.

And for what it is worth, while I might cringe, I too do not get bent out of shape when I hear "frat" used respectfully or appropriately.