Stop the "Baby" Talk

[33girl]

Been there done that. Here is the thread from last year.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ght=thetartots

Originally Posted by irishpipes

I don't like the term recruitment
I don't like the term new member
I don't like hand signs
I don't like the baby trend
I still call my friends "girls" and I graduated from college a long time ago. The term "woman/women" isn't my style - it's uptight and old-fashioned and reminds me of large clothing.
I loved being a pledge.

AMEN.

As nice as some of the terms are that have been created, having different things for every group is impractical. Yeah, ASA can decide that we want to call our pledges pearls, and I do like it as these terms go, and there is a great meaning and good reasoning behind it, but the thing is, why should we obligate anyone else to have to know that? Can you imagine trying to use the "correct" terms for every group at a 16-or 17-sorority campus? It's ridiculous. Sigma Chi (to use the first example that comes to my mind) has some terms for their chapter offices that aren't "normal" but I have never heard any of them get offended that I called them the "president" instead of the "consul." "Babies" more than likely sprang up as a generic term.

Originally Posted by DGTess

Pledge is what she does. I want her to remember she took a pledge to our organization, and that the pledge means something. In my mind, a member has been initiated, so "new member" doesn't convey the precise meaning.

Exactly. You're not a member until you're initiated. If you were a member before that, how could you quit pledging one group and pledge another a year later?

Originally Posted by MaggieXi

Only out of curiosity, why did the NPC change the terms? (Rush to recruitment, Rushee to PNM, etc)?

It was the 1990s and people were effing stupid. They thought it would eradicate hazing and negative Greek image. You see how well that worked. The stupidest thing is that none of the terms are grammatically correct. Women who go through formal rush (particularly at a school where just getting ANY bid is difficult) are not being "recruited" (ask anyone who's dealt with a military recruiter). Every woman on a campus who isn't Greek is a "potential new member" - not just those who are rushing.

The fact that 18 year olds who have never been cognizant when the "old" terms were used, still use them, just shows that this attempt has been a spectacular failure, and everyone just needs to go back to using "rush" and "pledge" and get over themselves.