Stop the "Baby" Talk - Page 8

NutBrnHair · #1 02-16-2013, 12:59 PM

I do love that fabric!

No, my crest sweatshirt is long gone -- that was 25 yrs ago.

DoctorD · #2 02-14-2013, 05:30 PM

Alpha Gam just posted this on the blog, too.

No More Baby Talk!

aephi alum · #3 02-15-2013, 03:01 AM

I have to agree about the "baby" terminology. For crying out loud, you have to be a full-time student at a 4-year university to join an NPC sorority, and last I heard, 4-year universities didn't admit infants.

A quote from AEPhi National's Facebook page:

Quote:

We are excited to see all the postings about our chapters' new members, but please remember that our new members are not babies!

Gamma Xi Phi · #4 02-15-2013, 10:05 AM

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=90506 <---- this was awesome

kateee · #5 02-15-2013, 10:26 AM

We were called New Members AND Baby Hooties. The reason they still used Baby Hooties was because my new member class thought it was cute and all wanted to be called it.
I do agree with many of the previous comments about the word Pledge. I kind of wish we were still pledges, not new members. New members is a mouthful. Being called a pledge reminds you of what you are doing - you are pledging your life to an organization. I see nothing wrong with it.

TriDeltaSallie · #6 02-16-2013, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kateee

I kind of wish we were still pledges, not new members. New members is a mouthful. Being called a pledge reminds you of what you are doing - you are pledging your life to an organization. I see nothing wrong with it.

I completely agree.

DeltaBetaBaby · #7 02-15-2013, 12:29 PM

I maintain that, if you want to get rid of "baby", you have to come up with a term that is better than "new member". I think "baby" is a hilarious side effect of them banning "pledge". Murphy's Law, my friends.

sigmagirl10 · #8 02-15-2013, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

I maintain that, if you want to get rid of "baby", you have to come up with a term that is better than "new member". I think "baby" is a hilarious side effect of them banning "pledge". Murphy's Law, my friends.

You may be right about "baby" as a side affect of switching to "New member"...however, my organization (non-NPC national) still uses the term "pledge" for very specific [positive] reasons and my chapter--and others around the country--still have the massive "baby" problem.

AOII Angel · #9 02-16-2013, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sigmagirl10

You may be right about "baby" as a side affect of switching to "New member"...however, my organization (non-NPC national) still uses the term "pledge" for very specific [positive] reasons and my chapter--and others around the country--still have the massive "baby" problem.

"Babies" started long before the whole New Member trend. My New Member manual specifically said that NMs were not to be called babies, our educator was not to be called "Mom" and they couldn't give us baby items like bottles and pacifiers. This was 1993 when AOII started it's NM program year 1. That means all of this baby crap was going on with pledges long enough for them to include it in my NM manual the first year it was published. Correlation is not causation.

DGTess · #10 02-16-2013, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

"Babies" started long before the whole New Member trend. My New Member manual specifically said that NMs were not to be called babies, our educator was not to be called "Mom" and they couldn't give us baby items like bottles and pacifiers. This was 1993 when AOII started it's NM program year 1. That means all of this baby crap was going on with pledges long enough for them to include it in my NM manual the first year it was published. Correlation is not causation.

Hmmmm... I wonder (no, I'm pretty sure I know) how our term "pledgemaster" would go over today. That wasn't the official title, but I don't think I ever heard Libby referred to by a formal title.

AOII Angel · #11 02-16-2013, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DGTess

Hmmmm... I wonder (no, I'm pretty sure I know) how our term "pledgemaster" would go over today. That wasn't the official title, but I don't think I ever heard Libby referred to by a formal title.

Yeah, I know a lot went on at chapters in the past that (Inter)Nationals didn't find out about, including nonstandard names. I think the advent of social media makes it more in your face which is why we all think it is so much worse now. My Great to the 5th Grand Big Sis calls me Baby II, as she does all her younger family members. She's Granny II to me. I've been an AOII going on 20 years. She hit 25 years this year, and she was most definitely a pledge with the full semester pledge program.

Oh well...maybe she started it all?!

33girl · #12 02-17-2013, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

"Babies" started long before the whole New Member trend. My New Member manual specifically said that NMs were not to be called babies, our educator was not to be called "Mom" and they couldn't give us baby items like bottles and pacifiers. This was 1993 when AOII started it's NM program year 1. That means all of this baby crap was going on with pledges long enough for them to include it in my NM manual the first year it was published. Correlation is not causation.

Maybe in some areas, but I don't think it was as widespread. When I joined, one of our chapters somewhere in the Midwest was still using "pledge mom" and "pledge daughter" and we were all like WTH??? Pledge mom =ed pledgemistress (NM educator) in our terminology. When I see the "baby" use at my alma mater I know it's reached critical mass.

The other thing that gets me rolling is NPC and IFC groups using terms like "crossing" but that's a whole 'nother thread.

AOII Angel · #13 02-17-2013, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

Maybe in some areas, but I don't think it was as widespread. When I joined, one of our chapters somewhere in the Midwest was still using "pledge mom" and "pledge daughter" and we were all like WTH??? Pledge mom =ed pledgemistress (NM educator) in our terminology. When I see the "baby" use at my alma mater I know it's reached critical mass.

The other thing that gets me rolling is NPC and IFC groups using terms like "crossing" but that's a whole 'nother thread.

That's it though, you used Pledge Mom for your NM educator. We can't even do that. It brings up the idea of Mom vs children. This isn't new. Your seeing it more wide spread because of social media, not because we call pledges NMs. It was there all along. That is the argument. Sorority women have wanted to call pledges/NMs cutesy names forever.

Cheerio · #14 02-17-2013, 04:32 PM

Didn't read entire thread, so please excuse if repeat: In ye olden NPC days, an on-campus Sorority Window display rotated every two weeks between groups. Several sororities exhibited Greek-lettered baby bottles and pacifiers. Umm, yeah, they were considered cool pledge gifts for 'baby' members.

AOII Angel · #15 02-17-2013, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheerio

Didn't read entire thread, so please excuse if repeat: In ye olden NPC days, an on-campus Sorority Window display rotated every two weeks between groups. Several sororities exhibited Greek-lettered baby bottles and pacifiers. Umm, yeah, they were considered cool pledge gifts for 'baby' members.

Yeah, it's also funny when people act like members today drink and we didn't back in the day. I have a 1968 pledge dance flask. Maybe members in the 60s didn't binge drink...I know they did in the 90s. Difference? Social media. Managing social media is the big game changer in the new millennium. It's our biggest risk management issue. Thank God it didn't exist when I was in college. I shudder to think of the trouble I'd have been in.