Books about Fraternities and Sororities

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

(The general silliness of reading another org's pledge manual aside) How on Earth can an outsider point out what's wrong with other GLOs' pledge manuals? Aside from historical inconsistencies.

Why is it silly? I find it really informative and interesting. There's nothing in it that outsiders shouldn't read.

And what I pointed out is right in line with an historical inaccuracy. No special fraternity knowledge required.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

And what I pointed out is right in line with an historical inaccuracy. No special fraternity knowledge required.

I'm not talking about you. Other than historical inaccuracies, how could an outsider correct a pledge manual?

[als463]

Because I'm a nerd for all things Greek, I ordered "I Heart Recruitment" and it came yesterday. I read it from cover-to-cover in a about an hour. I loved the book and it was pretty uplifting. It is true, EVERY GLO has something to offer. I appreciated the message! Thanks for the advice about getting this book!

[ThetaPrincess24]

Originally Posted by als463

Because I'm a nerd for all things Greek, I ordered "I Heart Recruitment" and it came yesterday. I read it from cover-to-cover in a about an hour. I loved the book and it was pretty uplifting. It is true, EVERY GLO has something to offer. I appreciated the message! Thanks for the advice about getting this book!

I have read and own this one too. I have found it extremely helpful to me as a recruitment advisor. About two weekends ago, one of the authors of that book did a recruitment workshop at EKU. Phenomenal. If your campus panhellenic's can swing it or several groups going in together to pay for it, have them come to your campus.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I'm not talking about you. Other than historical inaccuracies, how could an outsider correct a pledge manual?

The text in question describes pronounciation of Greek Letters by various groups and indicates that the reason that the Phi and the Xi in Alpha Phi and Alpha Xi Delta are pronounced so as to rhyme with "bee" is that they follow vowels. This is not a correct understanding of Greek Pronounciation.

This is of course complicated by the fact that the fact that the names of the greek letters are different now than they were 2000 years ago. For example, the second letter of the greek alphabet is now pronounced as closer to an english v than a english b and the pronounciation of the name of the letter is has a shortish i like in fit (but a little bit of long e) rather than a long a like bay.

For Phi and Xi, the pronounciations where they rhyme with bee are what is in modern greek, the pronounciations where they rhyme with fly are what is in ancient greek. However for Xi, the modern greek is closer to ksee in pronounciation than zee.

The Wikipedia page for Alpha Phi says
"However, the pronunciation of Phi as "Fee" rather than "Fi" actually results from the fact that the organization adopted the Greek rather than anglicized, mainly American, pronunciation of the letter because it sounded more feminine." There isn't anything I can find on Alpha Phi's National page, but a lot of Alpha Phi chapter websites have the "after a vowel" explanation.

I can't find anything either on wikipedia or on the Alpha Xi Delta national website on why it rhymes with bee.

The text from the original pledge manual the GCer found gets it wrong, the one from Kappa Sigma is similar but basically says that not all GLOs pronounce them the same and these two are exceptions...

I'm not sure if that counts as a historical inaccuracy though.

For further information, just search greekchat for topics on greek pronounciation.

I'm not saying that anyone is pronouncing their own greek letters wrong, it's such a mess of Current Greek, British pronounciation of Ancient Greek and American pronounciation that just about everyone is right.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by naraht

I'm not sure if that counts as a historical inaccuracy though.

I know about the pronunciation of Greek letters and that's along the lines of perceived historical inaccuracies if people feel those who wrote that component of the pledge manual (or the founders) did so based on misinformation. That doesn't mean they are correct in their assumption (perhaps they knew a pronunciation was technically wrong but sounded better or had some other significance) and why outsiders care is another topic.

So, back to my original question: Other than historical inaccuracies (that MysticCat and naraht are typing about), how could outsiders correct a pledge manual?

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

So, back to my original question: Other than historical inaccuracies (that MysticCat and naraht are typing about), how could outsiders correct a pledge manual?

So I went through my fraternity's pledge manual looking for things that were neither history nor "internal facts" and actually found something incorrect that fits the question!

There is a map of Canada in Alpha Phi Omega's pledge manual, and the borders between the Canadian Territories are both incorrect and includes borders that haven't existed in over 10 years. (APO reissues its pledge manuals after every national convention (every two years))

I don't know how our National Office would react if that were pointed out by a non-member, I'm on the National History committee, so they've learned to expect weird phone calls from me.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

So, back to my original question: Other than historical inaccuracies (that MysticCat and naraht are typing about), how could outsiders correct a pledge manual?

I doubt they could, but I don't think anyone has suggested they should try to, either.

Originally Posted by naraht

The Wikipedia page for Alpha Phi says
"However, the pronunciation of Phi as "Fee" rather than "Fi" actually results from the fact that the organization adopted the Greek rather than anglicized, mainly American, pronunciation of the letter because it sounded more feminine." There isn't anything I can find on Alpha Phi's National page, but a lot of Alpha Phi chapter websites have the "after a vowel" explanation.

I can't find anything either on wikipedia or on the Alpha Xi Delta national website on why it rhymes with bee.

I wouldn't necessarily expect to see anything along those lines. (Nor would I trust the Wiki on this if there's nothing about it at the Alpha Phi website.)

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

I doubt they could, but I don't think anyone has suggested they should try to, either.

That's why I was asking a general question. I don't know what you all were or were not suggesting.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by naraht

So I went through my fraternity's pledge manual looking for things that were neither history nor "internal facts" and actually found something incorrect that fits the question!

There is a map of Canada in Alpha Phi Omega's pledge manual, and the borders between the Canadian Territories are both incorrect and includes borders that haven't existed in over 10 years. (APO reissues its pledge manuals after every national convention (every two years))

I don't know how our National Office would react if that were pointed out by a non-member, I'm on the National History committee, so they've learned to expect weird phone calls from me.

Okay, so corrections would be on a historical or factual (which could be deemed historical) basis, assuming that you would have something to prove how the borders are incorrect.

That's fair enough. I agree about the non-members part and that's one reason why I find reading the pledge manuals of other organizations to be strange.