Things have changed over the years.
I'm not sure when this happened, but in the past being "pinned" to your girl or boyfriend was a really big deal. There were even ceremonies for it in most fraternaties. A pictorial book I have from my college has pictures of two pinning ceremonies -- probably from the 50's or 60's judging by the dress.
There were basically four levels in a Greek relationship:
Dating
Being Lavaliered (I never remember how to spell that word)
Being Pinned
Being engaged
I read an interesting comment on one of these threads -- obviously from an alum -- that giving your girlfriend you badge was an indication that you loved her as much as you loved your fraternity.
The women wore their pinmates badge all the time -- providing they were dressed properly (dress or slacks & sweater, etc.) They would not wear the badge on a sweatshirt or tee shirt.
Some other triva. Only an active could "pin" his girlfriend. Pledges could only lavalier (there's that word again). That's probably because the pledge badge isn't the "real" badge of the fraternity. Fraternity men could "pin" non Greek women.
By the way, it wasn't too uncommon to see women wearing sweatshirts or tees with their pinmates letters. (That was often the case when the woman was not dressed as described above) Actually, it was pretty neat to see some really beautiful woman wearing your fraternity's letters and was a very nice statement to others on campus who saw it. The women would (could) not wear the coat of arms because they didn't understand the meaning and secrets involved.
It was also very common to see a car with both sets of letters of a Greek couple in the back window.
There is another current thread on sweethearts. In the past, a fraternity sweetheart was generally one of the brothers pinmate.
I guess the romantic in me wonders why all of that changed.
DeltAlum
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