Hand signs

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

In that job, I did a LOT of reading - constantly - of various handbooks, and discovered that Delta Gamma has an official whistle and even an official signal with your handkerchief. I doubt that hand signs have been officially recognized, but ways to note your membership or recognize sisters go back 100+ years!

Love the hankerchief sign! Can it be shared or is it secret?

Based on the reading I've done, whistles and calls were once very common for both sororities and fraternities. I think most if not all groups had them, and may still, even if they're not used much anymore.

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Love the hankerchief sign! Can it be shared or is it secret?

I doubt it or the whistle is secret - it was in a non-secret officers handbook. I don't remember the handkerchief signa exactly...it was something about how and where you held it to your face.

LOL at somebody doing that today. My mom left me several very pretty handkerchiefs, elaborately embroidered or festooned with lace, and thinner than Kleenex, with orders to use them at her funeral instead of tacky Kleenex. At the time, though, it was the last thing on my mind.
I'm sorry, Mom.

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Based on the reading I've done, whistles and calls were once very common for both sororities and fraternities. I think most if not all groups had them, and may still, even if they're not used much anymore.

You're correct - I remember reading that along with the explanations.

[WhiteDaisy128]

Here are some of the whistles:

[honeychile]

^I was going to say that I once posted an old page of whistles!


We did the <> when I was in school, and as far as I know, we were the only ones with a handsign.

[naraht]

For Alpha Phi Omega, the hand sign is official, it is the same as the Boy Scout sign (right hand, thumb joined to pinky, other fingers straight.)

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by naraht

For Alpha Phi Omega, the hand sign is official, it is the same as the Boy Scout sign (right hand, thumb joined to pinky, other fingers straight.)

In what context would you use that?

I think there may be various things that can be meant by "handsigns." It seems to me that handsigns can be broken down into three different kinds of signs:

1. Handsigns made in photos or similar situations that serve simply to say "we are members of ΑΒΓ";
2. Signs made only in a ritual context with ritual meaning; and
3. Recognition signs used to quietly identify other members, similar to a challenge and response.

It seems to me that in this thread we've mainly been talking about the first category. Obviously we wouldn't know about the second category for any GLO but our own, and the third category would also likely be secret (if still used). I'm guessing that whistles also originally functioned like the third category of handsign. (You can see in the chart above that some whistles actually have challenges and answers.)

I wouldn't be surprised of lots of GLOs have signs of the second and third kind, though in these days when it's easier to identify members in other ways, those of the third kind may have fallen out of use. It's those of the first kind that I think have only fairly recently been appearing outside the Divine Nine, and I would guess it is a Divine Nine influence that has given rise to them elsewhere.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

In what context would you use that?

I think there may be various things that can be meant by "handsigns." It seems to me that handsigns can be broken down into three different kinds of signs:

1. Handsigns made in photos or similar situations that serve simply to say "we are members of ΑΒΓ";
2. Signs made only in a ritual context with ritual meaning; and
3. Recognition signs used to quietly identify other members, similar to a challenge and response.

It seems to me that in this thread we've mainly been talking about the first category. Obviously we wouldn't know about the second category for any GLO but our own, and the third category would also likely be secret (if still used). I'm guessing that whistles also originally functioned like the third category of handsign. (You can see in the chart above that some whistles actually have challenges and answers.)

I wouldn't be surprised of lots of GLOs have signs of the second and third kind, though in these days when it's easier to identify members in other ways, those of the third kind may have fallen out of use. It's those of the first kind that I think have only fairly recently been appearing outside the Divine Nine, and I would guess it is a Divine Nine influence that has given rise to them elsewhere.

Definitely *not* # 3, among other uses, the Sign is made when someone is being installed into an elected office at any level and for most elected offices above the chapter level, that tends to be done at conference banquets where guests, wait staff, etc. are likely to see it. (While our officer installation is in the ritual book, it is not a private ritual) We also have a private fraternity handshake.

For #2, definitely not only in a ritual context, though certainly used there as well...

For #1, certainly *can* be done that way. If you were asking for the organizational pictures in the yearbook for the signs to be made, that is certainly the one that brothers would use. And I do see it used "socially", just not to the level that you see some other groups using it.

And while the chapters at the HBCUs are more likely to use the sign socially because of the influence of the NPHC signs, the use of that sign dates back to well before our first chapters at an HBCU. (Trying to figure out when and where the first school with both an NPHC chapter and an Alpha Phi Omega chapter would be difficult)

Alpha Phi Omega in the Philippines are also more likely to use the hand sign for various cultural reasons.