Well I'm in Kappa Kappa Psi and we(local chapter, regional chapters[esp. HBCU chapters, ours isn't one though]) use the term Frat to refer to brothers. One of the reasons I think our chapter does is one of our newly alumni members is APhiA and he'd just pointed out that it's how you say it, not how THEY(the media and anti-greek) mean it. If you are saying it to a fellow brother then there shouldn't be any negative connotation. Also, we are living in a sad condition when we allow words to dictate how we feel about ourselves and our organizations. My brothers and myself aren't drunks, we drink intelligently, but should we not drink because of the way some liberal thinks(putting out notice that I'm a moderate Democrat just so you know). When it comes down to it, me calling one of my brothers frat don't mean that I think they are fall down drunks who can't walk straight, it just is an expression or for that matter a shortening of the latin "FRATER" or "BROTHER". I leave you with a dictionary quote of the definition.
Quote:
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fraternity - early 14c., "body of men associated by common interest," from O.Fr. fraternité, from L. fraternitatem (nom. fraternitas), from fraternus "brotherly," from frater "brother," from PIE *bhrater. College sense is from 1840s. Fraternal is 1421, from M.L. fraternalis, from L. fraternus.
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