Books about Fraternities and Sororities

[33girl]

Originally Posted by naraht

I never realized that there are more sororities in the NPC starting with Alpha than with the entire second half of the greek alphabet.

That's why the schools where ASA is called "Alphas" crack me up. That works fine when the ASA chapter has been there since dinosaur years, but for the majority of schools, it would be "Alpha WHAT??"

[naraht]

Originally Posted by 33girl

That's why the schools where ASA is called "Alphas" crack me up. That works fine when the ASA chapter has been there since dinosaur years, but for the majority of schools, it would be "Alpha WHAT??"

Yeah, it works at the HBCUs (the Alpha Phi Alpha brothers calling themselves Alpha) since the only other one of the NPHC that starts with Alpha is Alpha Kappa Alpha, and they *always* go by AKA.

I don't know if Alpha Phi Alpha would be less likely to go by "Alphas" at places with huge systems like U of Illinois. Given that I don't think there are any of the NIC fraternities that go by Alphas, it wouldn't surprise me.

And anyone who gets ASA confused with APhiA needs more than their eyes checked.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by 33girl

That's why the schools where ASA is called "Alphas" crack me up. That works fine when the ASA chapter has been there since dinosaur years, but for the majority of schools, it would be "Alpha WHAT??"

Interesting.

At Murray State, four of the five NPC sororities start with Alpha. At the NPC peak (i.e. seven NPC chapters on campus), five of seven started with Alpha. Of the five, all had Alpha or an "A" in their nickmame, but none were referred solely as Alpha.

Side note: When Alpha Phi Alpha chartered at Murray State, they were - from day one - called Alpha. And Alpha Kappa Alpha was (is) AKA.

My guess is that is that what ever the local chapter decides to call itself, becomes the norm on campus.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

Me too.

This is slightly off topic, but I have to share, and this seemed a reasonable place.

Along with keeping an eye open for fraternity/sorority histories, I also keep an eye open for pledge manuals. I've found two in the last few weeks. Yesterday, I was reading through one I bought this weekend (I'll leave the GLO unidentified, but it's the 2006 edition of their manual) and found this in the section on the Greek alphabet:

Adding to the peculiarity of the fraternity language is the fact that a few Greek letters, particularly Xi and Phi, have several pronunciations. After a consonent, they are pronounced "z-eye" and "f-eye." After a vowel the pronuncation changes to "z-ee" ad "f-ee." For example, Alpha Xi Delta is pronounced "Alpha Z-ee Delta," and Theta Xi is pronounced "Theta Z-eye."

I laughed hard at this Greek urban legend being perpetuated in print in a pledge manual -- especially when a page or two later they refer to other orgs, including Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Phi Omega. I'm pretty willing to bet that the writer doesn't follow the rule he just recited and call them "Alpha F-ee Alpha" and "Alpha F-ee Omega."

[naraht]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

This is slightly off topic, but I have to share, and this seemed a reasonable place.

Along with keeping an eye open for fraternity/sorority histories, I also keep an eye open for pledge manuals. I've found two in the last few weeks. Yesterday, I was reading through one I bought this weekend (I'll leave the GLO unidentified, but it's the 2006 edition of their manual) and found this in the section on the Greek alphabet:

Adding to the peculiarity of the fraternity language is the fact that a few Greek letters, particularly Xi and Phi, have several pronunciations. After a consonent, they are pronounced "z-eye" and "f-eye." After a vowel the pronuncation changes to "z-ee" ad "f-ee." For example, Alpha Xi Delta is pronounced "Alpha Z-ee Delta," and Theta Xi is pronounced "Theta Z-eye."

I laughed hard at this Greek urban legend being perpetuated in print in a pledge manual -- especially when a page or two later they refer to other orgs, including Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Phi Omega. I'm pretty willing to bet that the writer doesn't follow the rule he just recited and call them "Alpha F-ee Alpha" and "Alpha F-ee Omega."

Whichever this GLO is, they aren't alone. When I googled for the quoted text, two *different* Social Fraternities came up as hits (or close hits) for it. These were in copies of their pledge manuals that are in public sections of their National website.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by naraht

Whichever this GLO is, they aren't alone. When I googled for the quoted text, two *different* Social Fraternities came up as hits (or close hits) for it. These were in copies of their pledge manuals that are in public sections of their National website.

Oh, they may be alone. I googled too, and while one of the two fraternities I assume you came across had the same first sentence, the full paragraph read this way:

Adding to the peculiarity of the fraternity language is the fact that a few Greek letters (particularly Xi and Phi) have several pronunciations. Sometimes both a Greek and an English form are used in the same name because the particular group prefers it that way — “Alpha Phee” for Alpha Phi. Therefore, be alert to the exceptions to the rules.

Interesting because that section of the pledge manual is very similar to the one I was looking at. But Kappa Sigma edited and got it right.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Oh, they may be alone. I googled too, and while one of the two fraternities I assume you came across had the same first sentence, the full paragraph read this way:

Adding to the peculiarity of the fraternity language is the fact that a few Greek letters (particularly Xi and Phi) have several pronunciations. Sometimes both a Greek and an English form are used in the same name because the particular group prefers it that way — “Alpha Phee” for Alpha Phi. Therefore, be alert to the exceptions to the rules.

Interesting because that section of the pledge manual is very similar to the one I was looking at. But Kappa Sigma edited and got it right.

Yeah, but I couldn't go into greater depth without identifying the fraternities. Was the other one that Google brought up the one that you found?