Why is the phi in alpha phi pronounced fee and not fye

[love4louboutin]

anyone know?

[knight_shadow]

I'm sure the Alpha Phis know.

[AlethiaSi]

b/c it sounds funny as fye?

[rufio]

because thats how they want it?

Originally Posted by rufio

because thats how they want it?

You say To-MAY-to, I say To-MAH-to...

[honeychile]

The ADPi New Member Handbook has both the Greek and the English pronunciation of each of the Greek letters. The Alpha Phis use the Greek Phi, not the English one.

That, or their founder was this really, really tall giant, who owned a castle at the top of a hugely tall beanstalk. When a bad little kid named Jack climbed the beanstalk, sneaked into the castle, and stole the giant's gold (which was called "Alpha" in his kingdom), the giant suddenly woke up and yelled, "FEE, Fie, Fo, Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!" Jack got scared and tried to run, but he dropped the Alpha just as the giant was starting his "Fee, Fie, Fo, Fum!" bit again. The giant liked the sound of his money being saved "Alpha" next to his "Fee" and he became the sound mixer for this fantastic group of women, whom he called the Alpha Fees.

[AOE2AlphaPhi]

Actually, I was told that it was the proper pronunciation of Phi following a vowel, but I've heard something else too. I think there's another thread about it on here somewhere.

[amanda6035]

Originally Posted by AOE2AlphaPhi

Actually, I was told that it was the proper pronunciation of Phi following a vowel, but I've heard something else too. I think there's another thread about it on here somewhere.

this is what I've always heard too. Same with the letter Xi. Alpha *Zee* Delta, but for example, two chapters near here are Delta Xi and Zeta Xi and the Xi is pronouced *zye* for both of those.

I'd be interested to know how the girls in the local Zeta Xi Delta pronounce their Xi...

[Drolefille]

Paging MysticCat!

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Paging MysticCat!

You called? Just when I was headed to bed, too, so I'll stick to the short explanation.

Which is, basically, rufio and honeychile are right. It has nothing to do with coming after a vowel, (or technically, after the name of a vowel) -- that's a Greek Urban legend. The name of F is spelled Fi in Greek, and the Iota, like "i" in most European languages other than English, represents an "ee" sound, not an "eye" sound. So, "FEE" is the Greek pronunciation. Always. "FYE" is an anglicized, mainly American, pronunciation. The Alpha Phis chose to use the Greek pronunciations, while most of the rest of us use anglicized pronunciations.

And in case anyone is wondering, the correct pronuncitions of the names of the letters X, P, C and Y are "KSEE" (pronoucing both the K and the S), "PEE," "CHEE" (with the "ch" like in Scottish "loch") and "PSEE" (pronouncing both the P and the S).

Now, that really was short for me.

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

You called? Just when I was headed to bed, too, so I'll stick to the short explanation.

Which is, basically, rufio and honeychile are right. It has nothing to do with coming after a vowel, (or technically, after the name of a vowel) -- that's a Greek Urban legend. The name of F is spelled Fi in Greek, and the Iota, like "i" in most European languages other than English, represents an "ee" sound, not an "eye" sound. So, "FEE" is the Greek pronunciation. Always. "FYE" is an anglicized, mainly American, pronunciation. The Alpha Phis chose to use the Greek pronunciations, while most of the rest of us use anglicized pronunciations.

And in case anyone is wondering, the correct pronuncitions of the names of the letters X, P, C and Y are "KSEE" (pronoucing both the K and the S), "PEE," "CHEE" (with the "ch" like in Scottish "loch") and "PSEE" (pronouncing both the P and the S).

Now, that really was short for me.

See, I knew about I(ee)ota, but I didn't know about X, P, C and Y. So, it's really, Chee Omega. And Kappa Kappa Ksee. And Phee Sigma Pee. You know a friend of mine told me that P but I thought he was just making a joke cuz he's a little anti greek.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by AZ-AlphaXi

The official pronunciation of Alpha Xi Delta is Alpha KSEE Delta .. but usually said Alpha ZEE Delta and as far as I know every chapter of Alpha Xi Delta says ZEE ... some do say Zye for their chapter name - as in Zeta Zye for the chapter at Auburn but it was Zee chapter at the University of Kentucky.

Boy, did I ever learn that pronunciation!

The Sigma Alpha Iota chapter at the hometown university hosts an all campus sing competition. While the judges are tallying their votes, the SAIs perform and would end their performance with a very lovely - and quite slow - song about their sisterhood. At the end of the song, they sing "Sigma Alpha Iota" and would always draw out Iota. More or less as in "E-O-TA". At first, I figured it was all the Southern accents. Later I was informed by SAI friends of the correct pronunciation.

Originally Posted by amanda6035

this is what I've always heard too. Same with the letter Xi. Alpha *Zee* Delta, but for example,

Are you saying when you say Alpha Xi Delta you pronounce Zee not Xi? Just asking becasue at my school they say Alpha Xi Delta but when saying the letters they say it as AZD but write AXD. Always had wondered why they said Zee instead of Xi. Same with Alpha Phi.

[amanda6035]

Originally Posted by PhiKapSkulls

Are you saying when you say Alpha Xi Delta you pronounce Zee not Xi? Just asking becasue at my school they say Alpha Xi Delta but when saying the letters they say it as AZD but write AXD. Always had wondered why they said Zee instead of Xi. Same with Alpha Phi.

ummm....we pronounce the Xi as "zee" not "zye."

Yes, we say AZD, because Xi is pronounced Zee. AZD is the pronounced the same was a AXiD (Ay Zee Dee) but we are not Alpha 'Zeta' Delta so when we write it out we write wither AXD or AXiD. (or better yet, use the actual greek letters).


ETA: Wanted to share my FAVORITE Alpha Xi song....It'll clear some of this up (haha)

*To the tune of the Oscar Mayer song...*

My sorority has a first name.....It's A-L-P-H-A
My sorority has a last name.....It's D-E-L-T-A
The middle name is hard, you see
It's spelled X-I, pronounced ZEEEEEEE
*fast* A-L-P-H-A-X-I, D-E-L-T-A, goodbye!

[AnchorAlumna]

For chapter namess, we sometimes pronounce Xi "Zye" and sometimes "Zee." And many of our our Michigan chapter members seem to pronounce their chapter name name "Beta Eks-zye." Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

MystiCat, thanks so much for the lesson. Fascinating!