Your GLO's Alpha Phi Chapter: Alpha FEE or FIE

[SATX*APhi]

I am a member of Alpha Phi (FEE) and was just thinking. To those of you who are members of other GLO's who name your chapters in Greek letter sequential order (Alpha Chapter, Iota Beta chapter, etc.):

How do you pronounce your Alpha Phi chapter? Is it FEE or FIE?

For example, I ran across the Tri-Delta collegiate chapter listing and they pronounce it FEE.

[AlphaSigOU]

Our fraternity pronounces our Alpha Phi chapter 'fie'. Though 'fee' is the proper pronunciation in Greek.

[sueali]

i may be wrong in this but I believed the correct way to pronounce the Phi after an Alpha is always a fee at least that's what I was told, so I guess that may answer the question for sigma kappa "fee".

[SATX*APhi]

Originally posted by sueali
i may be wrong in this but I believed the correct way to pronounce the Phi after an Alpha is always a fee at least that's what I was told, so I guess that may answer the question for sigma kappa "fee".

Yes, that's how "we" (Alpha Phi) pronounce it. I wanted to see how other GLO's prounced their Alpha Phi chapter name. I forgot which sorority it is, but I remember there is one that pronounces their Alpha Phi chapter Alpha FIE.

[Sistermadly]

I always wondered if the rule changed if there is another vowel after the "fee" - case in point, no one calls AFA A "Fee" A.

look at Alpha Phi Omega... phi is pronounce fie not fee.

[sugar and spice]

Actually, I'm pretty sure that there is no rule one way or another on how to pronounce "phi." (The one about it being "fee" after following a vowel just doesn't hold water -- Alpha Phi Alpha or Alpha Epsilon Phi being obvious examples to the contrary.) "Fee" is the Greek way of pronouncing it and "fie" is the more American pronunciation -- individual GLOs or chapters choose how they want to say it. Same with Xi -- it is pronounced "zie," "zee," or "k-zee" depending on the chapter.

[AlphaPhiBubbles]

Originally posted by sugar and spice
Actually, I'm pretty sure that there is no rule one way or another on how to pronounce "phi." (The one about it being "fee" after following a vowel just doesn't hold water -- Alpha Phi Alpha or Alpha Epsilon Phi being obvious examples to the contrary.) "Fee" is the Greek way of pronouncing it and "fie" is the more American pronunciation -- individual GLOs or chapters choose how they want to say it. Same with Xi -- it is pronounced "zie," "zee," or "k-zee" depending on the chapter.

Well, I think it was just something Alpha Phi discovered back around 1872 (when we were founded) because the founders were good friends with a Greek professor who informed them of the correct "fee" pronounciation. I know that the letters AF actually stand for greek words, hence the different pron. but maybe AFA doesn't, therefore no need for pronouncing it differently? Or maybe they just didn't want to? There is certainly no GLO rule...and I don't think most Alpha Phi's go "oh my gosh I can't believe that GLO pronounces it FIE instead of FEE!!!".

[EtaPhiZTA]

I am an alumnae of the Eta Phi (Fee) chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha. I was told that Phi is pronounced fee when it is the last letter in a Greek name.

[Rio_Kohitsuji]

We have no Alpha Phi chapter here but by the grace of GC I have learned to prounce it as "fee". Alpha Sigma Phi however here, prounounces it "fie"

[33girl]

We never had/will never have an Alpha Phi chapter, since only the 4 chapters that participated in the reorganization are given the honor of starting with Alpha. So we don't have to worry about it. I'm pretty sure every other chapter that ended with a Phi has pronounced it "Fye."

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I honestly don't know. I will have to check that out.

I heard that the reason Alpha Phi was pronounced FEE is because it is the last of two letters. Otherwise it would be A E FEE instead of A E FEYE.

[DZHBrown]

I think we use "fie"

[AlphaPhiBubbles]

Originally posted by Cream
I honestly don't know. I will have to check that out.

I heard that the reason Alpha Phi was pronounced FEE is because it is the last of two letters. Otherwise it would be A E FEE instead of A E FEYE.

You were misinformed, it is because Phi follows a vowel, Alpha.

And you know, I was thinking...Alpha Phi doesn't even have an Alpha Phi chapter. Cuz after Omega it goes Beta Alpha...not Alpha Alpha. Weird.

[bruinaphi]

There have been a million and one threads on this over the years but here is a post of mine from a year or so ago that discusses the pronunciation of "Phi"

I was having a discussion about the pronunciation of "Phi" this weekend and I was referred to the following webpages which have pronunciation guides for the greek alphabet:

http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/farg/...lan/grkphon.htm
http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/prime...greek/index.asp
http://www.ibiblio.org/koine/greek/...s/alphabet.html

According to these pages the letter "Phi" is pronounced "Fee" in Modern Greek. There are many different pronunciations of Greek words, but current academics believe that Modern Greek is the closest to New Testament Greek (but not identical).

I could not find anything that lends validity to the idea that the pronunciation is different when the Phi follows a vowel, or is the second letter without a third.

Here is a link to that thread.