Sunburn or Truffles?

[preciousjeni]

When I went through Panhellenic rush years ago, at nearly every house, I was asked, "Where did you summer?" or something to that effect. Summering, of course, means where did I spend my summer. To me, it was a snobbish question, because the answer was supposed to be, "I summered in Paris/London/some other way to expensive place to be."

My question is how many of you use the term "summering" during Rush? I actually have a second question, and that is

WHYYYY????

ETA: I recognize the difference between, "What did you do over the summer?" and "Where did you summer?"

[TigerLilly]

I never asked where someone "summered", but I know I have asked what someone did that summer. It's not necessarily meant as a snobbish question, it's a good way to get to know more about the rushee.
Yeah, maybe you'll find out that Suzy went to Paris for the summer and is super rich...ok...or maybe you find out that Stacy really likes to swim and spent the summer lifeguarding, or maybe you'll learn that Samantha worked at the Body Shop over the summer, and you can talk about that because you worked at the Body Shop last semester, too. Stuff like that to help you find a connection with the rushee. It's not always a loaded question to find out how rich the rushee is.

[Lil' Hannah]

I've never asked where anyone has summered, but I summered on the Cape one year and I had mentioned it in conversations during rush. Not to sound snooty or anything, but that's what I did with my summer so that's what I had to talk about. I mean I was working and paying rent and stuff, I wasn't just lounging around and going to clambakes.

[bluefish81]

Never asked it, never been asked it. I think asking that question at Iowa State would get a lot of strange looks considering a lot of the women are from small town Iowa, like me.

[AchtungBaby80]

I used to like to summer in Europe, and I'm not super rich. You can "summer" just about anywhere. It's just a verb...we don't use it a lot around here, but some areas of the country it's common to say that. My aunt says it.

[Lady Pi Phi]

I've never been asked that and I have never asked that question.

If anything the question is always, "what did you do over the summer?"

[sugar and spice]

I was only asked "What did you do this summer?" and that's all that I've ever asked anyone. I agree that it's kind of a snobby question and I would be put off if somebody asked me that. That's not to say summering is only for snobby people but to assume that everybody does it is kind of strange, in my opinion.

[preciousjeni]

Originally posted by FiReKraCkEr
Is it just me, or for some reason I'm a little offended by that queston in regards to "Panhellenic Rush"?

I didn't mean to offend. I must say, though, that I was offended when asked that question. And, I hope people just STOP asking it!!!

[DZHBrown]

I've never heard or used that term in recruitment.

[AUDeltaGam]

I have never asked anyone that.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

I was asked that at several houses...and they JUMPED on my stories about Switzerland.

[GeekyPenguin]

I think in certain echelons of society, that means "What did you do this summer?" I've had customers at work ask each other that and often the answer is "Well, we're spending three weeks at our home up north, taking a trip to visit our daughter at college, and we'll be around here planning the gala after that." I don't think it's that abnormal, I just tend to ask "What are your summer plans?" or "What did you do this summer?" so it's not as off-putting.

[newbabysquirrel]

maybe a better question would be: did you have a good/relaxing summer? but, i suppose that could be loaded as well if they didn't have a good summer. when i rushed a while back (when it was second semester...since changed to first), a lot of the houses asked us where we went over winter break. i didn't think twice about it and just told them about visiting my grandparents in the south and teaching at a sports-type camp. but, i always noticed when the girls seemed to listen more when we talked about sking or elaborate vacations. i guess you can't win. we've more or less been instructed to just casually mention summer vacation by asking something related to getting back to school/how was the summer/anything exciting. i guess you can't win sometimes with all the questions; and, different people will take things different ways.they have

[Kevin]

Being from Oklahoma, I never got the memo that such a word existed.

It would probably come off as pretentious here as well.

[KillarneyRose]

To be honest, I've never heard "summer" used as a verb. But then, I still don't recognize "disrespect" as a verb so don't go by what I say!