Inserting our Greek letters into words

[pi_love_emily]

Hey Sisters,
Around campus I've seen other sororities and fraternities use their Greek letters and replace them with actual letters in words (for example, Phi Sigma Sigma used their letter in the word COLLEGE). After seeing those shirts I've tried coming up with ways to use ours but I am rather unsuccessful. Do any of you have any ideas for words our letters could work in?

Emily

[honeychile]

pi_love_emily, I'm not sure what you mean. Is there an example? Maybe we could all work on something for you.

[LucyKKG]

Sorry for the crash. I think she means something like this:

HΦME or CΦLLΣGΣ

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by LucyKKG

Sorry for the crash. I think she means something like this:

HΦME or CΦLLΣGΣ

We ♥ any crashers who are nice!

Okay, I get it now! Sadly, I can only think of
AcaDemiaPhobia!

Can somebody else PLEASE do something better?

[GTAlphaPhi]

Pardon the lane swerve, ladies.

I think it's easier for Phi Mu and Phi Sigma Sigma to accomplish this feat because their Greek letters look somewhat like certain, albeit unrelated, English letters, like Φ = O and Σ = E. Your alpha is already identical to A, and delta couldn't really try to pass as anything other than an A, and pi looks nothing like any English letter (or maybe a large lowercase "n"?). Then again, I was never voted Most Creative, so I'm sure I'll be surprised with what y'all can come up with in this thread.

I've always like Phi Mu's "HΦME"...it's just naturally centered and symmetrical and is perfect for both back-to-school and recruitment (at least in the south).

[ree-Xi]

I might be on the other side...I don't like seeing the misappopriation of Greek letters (though the Phi Mu "Home" is cute).

For example, look at the name of television show GREEK, where the "E"s are Sigmas.

Maybe it bugs me because people refer to Alpha Xi Delta as AZD (in writing, they use a Z, because the English pronunciation of the letter Xi is pronounced "zee" when following a vowel. In Greek it's pronounced "ksi" as the "x" is pronounced in "box"). I usually write it out AXiD, but I have seen other members write out AXD.

[GTAlphaPhi]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

I might be on the other side...I don't like seeing the misappopriation of Greek letters (though the Phi Mu "Home" is cute).

For example, look at the name of television show GREEK, where the "E"s are Sigmas.

Maybe it bugs me because people refer to Alpha Xi Delta as AZD (in writing, they use a Z, because the English pronunciation of the letter Xi is pronounced "zee" when following a vowel. In Greek it's pronounced "ksi" as the "x" is pronounced in "box"). I usually write it out AXiD, but I have seen other members write out AXD.

Oh, I agree, I hate seeing sigmas used as e's (probably the most common Greek-for-English/Latin substitution). I like "HΦME" because it keeps the GLO's abbreviation intact.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

Maybe it bugs me because people refer to Alpha Xi Delta as AZD (in writing, they use a Z, because the English pronunciation of the letter Xi is pronounced "zee" when following a vowel. In Greek it's pronounced "ksi" as the "x" is pronounced in "box").

Sorry, but I have to say it -- I'm sure some at GC expect me to say it: It has nothing to do with following a vowel. That's a Greek urban legend.

The Greek pronunciation of the name of the letter X (Xi) is ksee. (In Greek, X = ks and i always = ee.)

Because in English we don't typically start a word with an x sound and instead substitute a z sound (xylophone, Xavier, Xerox) the anglicized pronunciation of the name of the letter X is zee.

But because we also tend in English not to pronounce a single i in a one syllable word as ee, the Americanized pronunciation of the name of the letter X is zeye. (We do the same thing with P, F, C and Y.)

It has nothing to do with what letter comes before it. It's simply that Alpha Xi Delta chose to use the pronunciation of the name of the letter X closer to the Greek (like Alpha Phi did with the pronunciation of the name of the letter F). That's all.

That said, as a general rule, I'm with you on substituting Greek letters for English ones -- it looks like we don't know what the letters really are.

[GeorgiaGPhiB]

During recruitment we always see the Phi Mu "HΦME" and that made us start thinking what in the world could you do with Gamma Phi Beta?

Well it did not take long to come up with "ΓΦΒBING boys hearts since 1874". My point being, you may have to think up a phase instead of just one word.

[Fatal1913]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Sorry, but I have to say it -- I'm sure some at GC expect me to say it: It has nothing to do with following a vowel. That's a Greek urban legend.

The Greek pronunciation of the name of the letter X (Xi) is ksee. (In Greek, X = ks and i always = ee.)

Because in English we don't typically start a word with an x sound and instead substitute a z sound (xylophone, Xavier, Xerox) the anglicized pronunciation of the name of the letter X is zee.

But because we also tend in English not to pronounce a single i in a one syllable word as ee, the Americanized pronunciation of the name of the letter X is zeye. (We do the same thing with P, F, C and Y.)

It has nothing to do with what letter comes before it. It's simply that Alpha Xi Delta chose to use the pronunciation of the name of the letter X closer to the Greek (like Alpha Phi did with the pronunciation of the name of the letter F). That's all.

That said, as a general rule, I'm with you on substituting Greek letters for English ones -- it looks like we don't know what the letters really are.

I think it just looks like we are trying to be creative with our letters... why try to make it more than it is... most people, atleast Greeks, know what it is you are doing/saying. I have even seen ppl insert their line numbers in to their line name like "In2ative"

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Fatal1913

I think it just looks like we are trying to be creative with our letters... why try to make it more than it is... most people, atleast Greeks, know what it is you are doing/saying. I have even seen ppl insert their line numbers in to their line name like "In2ative"

Well, Prince does that too.

If you're going to do anything with phrases, use what the Greek letters ACTUALLY STAND FOR. The Sigmas used as Es thing irritates the crap out of me too...and it can have the bad effect of being translated backward the same way. I have actually had members of other sororities (looking at a paper with our letters on it in Greek) refer to my sorority as "Alpha Epsilon Alpha."

[lovespink88]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Sorry, but I have to say it -- I'm sure some at GC expect me to say it: It has nothing to do with following a vowel. That's a Greek urban legend.

Thanks to GC (and probably you, actually) I know this. I've tried to tell my chapter sisters this but they look at me like

And ree-Xi, when I see AXD or AZD, I die a little inside.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by lovespink88

Thanks to GC (and probably you, actually) I know this. I've tried to tell my chapter sisters this but they look at me like

And ree-Xi, when I see AXD or AZD, I die a little inside.

I know how you feel. I'm the same way when I see somebody write my letters as YU.

[xomanadaxo]

I just stumbled across this...

In honor of this wonderfully enlightening "Xi" debate, I figured I'd share this with you.

ETA: Just remembered some from a while back...Kappa Sigma's "KollegΣ." (It makes me shudder just looking at it!) and Sigma Chi's sΣXy

[AXiDMeesh]

Originally Posted by lovespink88

Thanks to GC (and probably you, actually) I know this. I've tried to tell my chapter sisters this but they look at me like

And ree-Xi, when I see AXD or AZD, I die a little inside.

I know about the whole "ksee" thing because of MysticCat too lol.

And OMG. A relative bought me a this cute little doormat from Greekgear.com.
Well, it would've been cute, had it not had a HUGE AXD on it. I promptly returned it and got a bag instead lol.

Plus, I know her intentions were good, but I kinda don't want to wipe my feet on my letters anyway.

AZD needs to die. A lot of my chapter sisters use that all the time and I am very quick to say hell no to AZD