"Houses" v. "Chapters" / "Sororities"

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Calling chapters "houses" is a pet peeve of mine. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but it does Just one of those things.

Because it is in effect saying that the physical structure is the most important part of the chapter, or that the chapter would not exist without the physical structure, neither of which are the truth.

We said:
"What fraternity is he in?"
"I had 3 chapters left on pref night."
"ASA is the best sorority."
"Let's go to the party at the Delta Chi house."

Most fraternities and sororities had off-campus houses with letters on them.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Because it is in effect saying that the physical structure is the most important part of the chapter, or that the chapter would not exist without the physical structure, neither of which are the truth.

We said:
"What fraternity is he in?"
"I had 3 chapters left on pref night."
"ASA is the best sorority."
"Let's go to the party at the Delta Chi house."

Most fraternities and sororities had off-campus houses with letters on them.

That's how we used it also. I thought maybe I was overly sensitive to calling them "houses" because we were unhoused on my campus most of the time. But you're right, a house is a physical place, a chapter is a group of women/men.

ETA: We were even asked by some snobby girls from a different chapter of AGD whether we were "still homeless" when we ran into them while shopping (wearing letters). Yeah, homeless.. right.