From "Phi Facts" on several local Alpha Phi chapter websites:
Quote:
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A professor of Greek at Syracuse advised them to call the organization Alpha "Fee" instead of "Fie" as this is grammatically correct since it follows Alpha, a vowel.
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This sounds sort of “urban-legend-y” to me. Why would the ancient Greeks have a need to make up rules for using letters in acronyms? Pronunciation rules for words - yes. But for standalone letters?
It was always my understanding that Alpha Phi was simply more true to the original Greek pronunciation of the alphabet: Phee, Chee, Psee, Zee, Tawe, etc.
(so actually, TrojanGirl, "pi phi" would be “pee-fee” – even better!)
Can anyone verify this “only after a vowel” rule anywhere other than an Alpha Phi website. I study a lot of Greek and have never heard of this before, so I’m very curious.
wptw