[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Shellfish

And you'd never see fraternities call their new members something like "Baby Kappa Sigs."

Well, you'd likely never see most fraternities referring to someone who hasn't been fully initiated yet as a "new member" either.

I never understood why calling someone a pledge could be considered demeaning. (Full disclosure -- we stopped calling them pledges in the 70s, instead using "probationary member," often shortened in practice to PM, probe, probate or the like.) Demeaning was when we used to call pledges "worms."

Originally Posted by psusue

Also, a pledge is a promise, not a person. What I learned from my new member period.

Except in the orgs that do call persons pledges. I understand the motivations behind statements like this, but IMO they come across as subtle criticisms of other orgs that do things differently.