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We have dolphin-shaped (our mascot) boards, not actual paddles, that we decorate. We still refer to them as "paddles" though.
This issue has come up before, and as was pointed out then -- while we see paddles as a symbol of love and respect for our bigs/littles, the non-Greek world sees them as a sign we're smacking people with them. My non-Greek friends even teased me about getting smacked with my dolphin paddle while I was decorating it for my pledge mom, and while I'm pretty sure they know it was a present and not for any violent use, the first thing that came to mind when I referred to it as a "paddle" was that I was going to get beaten with it.
There are quite a few sororities who don't even allow paddle-shaped paddles at all anymore. My chapter (I'm not sure if it's a national rule or not) is one of them. They just don't want people to get the wrong idea.
That said, I don't think changing the name to "wood boards" is going to do much, and if they're really that worried, they should start making a move to replace the paddle-decorating tradition with something else. Still, we all know how PC the NPC is getting and I wouldn't be surprised if "paddle" is the next term to get politically corrected.
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