Before I attended college, I helped my biological brothers (Sigma Chis) study for their pledge tests. When in college, I did the same with my freshman roommate and some high school friends who were in various sororities. But in all cases, the pledge manuals / books / information used could be read by non-members. No ritual.
When I was an undergrad, a few of us Sigs would be at a party with fellow Greeks and one of us would “accidently slip” with some “secrete” information. It was always bogus. Most often, it was done just to see how gullible people would be. And the ones who were often the most gullible were other Greeks.
Another fun thing to do at a party would be to start to act all nervous when someone would come up to us and say “I know what such-n-such means,” - and then proceed to tell us something incorrect. We would get a “holy crap” look on our faces as if they knew. My favorite thing to do at this point would be to over exaggerate my denial. "I
swear that is not true." Which others interpreted as “He doth protest too much.”
I tried this once with my biological brothers – Sigma Chis – and the rest of our family (almost all are Greek) late one night during a family celebration. One of my brothers looked right at me and said “Your drunk. That isn’t what that stands for.” I was so busted!
The point is that sometimes, one may *think* they are hearing secrets/ritual but they may actually not.
