Plegdes wearing letters???

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

My main problem with the term "earn" is when, for example, you earn a paycheck, you are given money in return for completing certain tasks. Becoming a member of a GLO is almost always far more complex than that. Perhaps it is simply a matter of semantics, but just about every time some talks about "earning their letters" there seems to be an undercurrent of hazing.

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.

The crest is reserved for initiated members because it is a symbol of a member who has gone through initiation. Circular, I know, but there you go.

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

The first day you accept your bid you have an idea of what the letters mean - an incomplete understanding, of course, but at least an elementary one.

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.

The crest serves, as does the badge, as a symbol of a member who has completed their education and gone through, if you will, their graduation. Consider it a form of diploma!

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.

[NutBrnHair]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

You cannot "earn" the right to be a Gamma Phi Beta. It is an honour to be invited to membership, and after careful preparation to be initiated into full sisterhood.
The ability to drink copious amounts of alcohol, do strenous exercises, sucumb to peer pressure, fit a physical stereotype, endure humiliation, or any other of dozens of "tests" sometimes put forth as a way to earn Greek letters is not what we look for in our potential members. Sincerity, dedication, intelligence, depth of character, and yes, love, learning, labor and loyalty are the distinquishing characteristics of our members.
Our pledges are allowed to wear our letters from day one, although the crest is reserved for initiated members, as is our badge. I am proud to be a member not because it means I have successfully run an obstacle course, but because I am a part of an organization of women whose creed means more to me with each passing year.

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Is this typed verbatim from some member manual?

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.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

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

I don't think it's the fact that the post was articulate that prompted DSTCHAOS to ask that, it was the content of the post.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I don't think it's the fact that the post was articulate that prompted DSTCHAOS to ask that, it was the content of the post.

I see what you mean, 33, but I don't know if I would be more insulted by the idea that I can't be articulate, or that if I seem to espouse the party line I must be quoting from a membership manual. Both ideas seem to buy into stereotypes - the one that sorority women are ditzy airheads, the other that HQ is the only place that fervently believes in anything other than PARTY PARTY PARTY.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I see what you mean, 33, but I don't know if I would be more insulted by the idea that I can't be articulate, or that if I seem to espouse the party line I must be quoting from a membership manual. Both ideas seem to buy into stereotypes - the one that sorority women are ditzy airheads, the other that HQ is the only place that fervently believes in anything other than PARTY PARTY PARTY.

Good grief.

[SWTXBelle]

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.

Thanks, NutBrnHair. I always cite my sources, too, so if I copy from somewhere I will be sure and let you know.

[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.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

For the record, my handwriting is terrible.

Mine is great and I knew I chose the wrong word, smarty.

[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.