Plegdes wearing letters???

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

SWTXB writes well. She's published. She has a way with the pen!

It's amazing to me that when someone on here is articulate, the assumption is that they must have copied it from somewhere.

Is that what you gathered from my post? I am no stranger to writing and publishing.

My post was about the tone and the "official correspondence-ish" message. I don't give a damn about her penwomanship.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

I don't give a damn about her penwomanship.

For the record, my handwriting is terrible.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

I see your point, and I'm not so much arguing in favor of the word "earn" as noting that it can be used in a completely nonhazing context.

I actually don't think it's circular at all; it makes perfect sense to me. We just treat our letters the same way.

Not so with us, unless one wants to argue that anyone should have an idea of what our principles are by how we conduct ourselves.

It is so considered.

Just curious -- would you say that you earned your college diploma through study and hard work, or was it an unearned honor bestowed on you?

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

AS YOU WELL KNOW, MYSTIC CAT -Here's the difference - anyone who meets the entrance requirements can enter my alma mater. Meet the graduation requirements for a degree, and boom! You get what you earned.
If my degree were honorary, it would have been given to me in recognition of my fabulousness and would have not been earned in the conventional sense.
While anyone who meets the Panhellenic requirements can go through recruitment, receiving a bid is an honour bestowed because of a pnm's fabulousness (code for top-secret membership selection criteria).
If your GLO does it differently I don't mean to criticize - unless you equate "earning" with "hazing", in which case, YES I mean to criticize. (General "you", not you specifically, Mystic Cat). If I have learned nothing else on Greek Chat, I've learned that there is more than one way to skin a cat (!), and if it works for your GLO, more power to you.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

AS YOU WELL KNOW, MYSTIC CAT . . . If my degree were honorary, it would have been given to me in recognition of my fabulousness and would have not been earned in the conventional sense.

From now on, you are to me SWTXBelle, Ph.D. -- Doctor of Phabulousness.

I agree that being offered a bid is an honor and not a right. For many orgs, though, the pledge period is a time both for the pledge to learn about the org and demonstrate that he is worthy of the honor, and for the org to get to know the pledge better and satisfy itself that he is worthy of the honor. That's the sense in which I would use "earn."

And ditto on learning at GC a lot about how different groups approach things differently. Did you have to mention skinning a cat, though?!

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

From now on, you are to me SWTXBelle, Ph.D. -- Doctor of Phabulousness.

I agree that being offered a bid is an honor and not a right. For many orgs, though, the pledge period is a time both for the pledge to learn about the org and demonstrate that he is worthy of the honor, and for the org to get to know the pledge better and satisfy itself that he is worthy of the honor. That's the sense in which I would use "earn."

And ditto on learning at GC a lot about how different groups approach things differently. Did you have to mention skinning a cat, though?!

No worries - the cat referenced in the idiomatic expression is actually a catFISH, so you needn't worry for your mystical black pelt!

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

I see your point, and I'm not so much arguing in favor of the word "earn" as noting that it can be used in a completely nonhazing context.

Right and it's interesting that "earn" is often reduced to hazing. Not just on GC.