Is 22 TOO OLD to RUSH an old south SEC frat?

[tinydancer]

Yes!! Grammar Rock rocks!

[FSUZeta]

OP, somehow i had guessed you were going to Auburn.

You better get hold of your friends in fraternities, because Auburn fraternities have summer rush parties and many of the "frats" will extend bids in the summer and have their pledge classes all sown up before school even starts.

[southernkid]

yeah that's the worst analogy ever, i wasn't gonna say anything but... its like calling the new england patriots the Pats. no different

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by southernkid

yeah that's the worst analogy ever, i wasn't gonna say anything but... its like calling the new england patriots the Pats. no different

Actually, it is different. "Frat" and "Pats" are similar in that they both originated as a shortened form of a fuller name or designation that could indicate some degree of familiarity and affection. But unlike "frat," "Pats" has no negative connotation.

While "frat" is not an obscenity (which distinguishes it markedly from the "country" analogy), in many places it has come to have a negative connotation. To many members of fraternities, the word "frat" has "frat boy"/"Animal House" associations -- associations from which most fraternities, at least at a national level, have tried to distance themselves. It is also in some places considered a put-down from non-Greeks -- that is to say, Greeks do not say "frat," and they consider it perjorative when they hear non-Greeks say it. (I'm talking here about NIC and similar Greeks. In the NPHC, it's a very different situation.)

It's been discussed many times at GC -- on some campuses, no one will bat an eye if you say "frat." On other campuses, fraternity members might take great offense at it, and it would be a mark against you if, as a rushee, you were heard using the word.

I don't know what the attitude about the word "frat" is within the Greek community at Auburn. I have to say, though, that based on previous conversations about the word, I'd be a little surprised if it the members of the fraternities you have your eye on didn't see it as at least a little disrespectful.


BTW, one bit of advice: Greeks from all over the place read GC. If you've put enough in your posts that someone in a fraternity at Auburn could figure out who you are (22-year-old sophomore coming through rush for the first time, took time off to work between high school and college), then you might want to make sure those posts leave nothing but a good impression of you.


ETA:

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Now, back to prepping for my move to NYC, where I will undoubtedly be hailing taximeter cabriolets. I'd just say "taxi", but abbreviated words are evil.

Sorry. I didn't see your post until after I posted mine. I was too busy getting some cukes out of the dorm fridge.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by southernkid

yeah that's the worst analogy ever, i wasn't gonna say anything but... its like calling the new england patriots the Pats. no different

So using the theory of substitution, does this mean the Pats are c&*ts?

Yay, geometry finally comes in handy in real life.

[justgo_withit]

I always thought of "frat" as a term that was initially used negatively that greek people use jokingly to take the offensive out of it; see "fratty" and "TFM" and all of those things. They're not serious- no one legitimately brags about being TFTC, it's used facetiously- so it's acceptable to use as someone in the greek community but not okay from someone out of it. After talking to friends from different schools including SEC schools, frat is okay if a fraternity man/sorority woman is using it facetiously but not okay if used by someone outside the system like a PNM. It's like an inside joke in that it's not cool to use if you're not in on it, aka initiated.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by southernkid

exactly justgowithit. end of story.

Well, by what she said, you're in the category of people who shouldn't be using the word "frat."

Originally Posted by justgo_withit

After talking to friends from different schools including SEC schools, frat is okay if a fraternity man/sorority woman is using it facetiously but not okay if used by someone outside the system like a PNM. It's like an inside joke in that it's not cool to use if you're not in on it, aka initiated.

Just sayin'.

[justgo_withit]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Well, by what she said, you're in the category of people who shouldn't be using the word "frat."
Just sayin'.

Vaguely related:

During officer elections for a club I'm in, one of the candidates was asked what his time commitments for the next semester would be- he said, "Well I'm in (some random club) and I'm planning on joining fraternity XYZ, which is another club, so it's only two clubs and I should be good to go time-wise." Every greek in the room got quiet, as the president of XYZ quietly said "First, don't ever call it a club. Second, don't ever assume you'll get a bid. Third, I have no idea where you got the idea that you'd have enough time to be an officer in this club while pledging any fraternity but I can assure you that is not the case." Watching people blackball themselves is so painful...

[Old_Row]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Well, by what she said, you're in the category of people who shouldn't be using the word "frat."
Just sayin'.

Right. The only people who are able to use the term in that sense are Greek. This expert geed needs to shut his pie hole.

[southernkid]

exactly justgowithit. end of story.

[knight_shadow]

^^ Oh, how I miss undergrads overreacting lol

[justgo_withit]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

^^ Oh, how I miss undergrads overreacting lol

Hahaha maaybe a little. We're a fairly small school but our closest universities have strong greek systems, so our boys sometimes get a little defensive and insist that we have SERIOUS GREEK LIFE and the fraternities have SERIOUS PLEDGING PROCESSES and SERIOUSLY COMMITTED BROTHERHOOD. They mean well and they're great guys across the board, so it works out