Letters on items that can be destroyed

[alum]

I know that Phi Gam/FIJI has rules against wearing their greek letters on shirts, etc. Do any of the NPC women's fraternities/sororities have the same rule?

[victoriana]

I know mine does not, but I can't speak for anyone else. All of the sororities I've seen on my campus all have letter shirts and bags, though.

[magnolias2013]

Originally Posted by victoriana

I know mine does not, but I can't speak for anyone else. All of the sororities I've seen on my campus all have letter shirts and bags, though.

Second this. I know of certain groups that have restrictions on letters not being placed on certain items (ie: on the backside of sweatpants/yoga pants), but not necessarily ever forbidding them on clothing/etc.

[alum]

It all worked out. I had to do twin wallhangings for 2 people who work together. Since Phi Gam frowns on letters being on most items, this quilt had a symbol of a white owl with the black diamond/white star as the beak and I used palm tree fabrics in the background to emphasize the tropical nature of FIJI.

The Alpha Chi Omega one has 4" stitched letters in one block and a lyre in another. It was very easy to incorporate red and green fabrics especially at this time of the year.

[SWTXBelle]

I'm trying to think of an item that can't be destroyed. I've got nothing.

OZYMANDIAS -
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".
- Percy B. Shelley

[carnation]

I've loved that poem since high school!!!!

Don't Fijis have event shirts with Fiji on them? I'd swear I've seen them, like for Fiji Island.

[AXEling]

The chapter at my school always puts something like this on the left breast of their rush shirts:


The design on the back changes from year to year.

I can't find any pictures of the most recent "Fiji Isle" shirt but IIRC it was navy and a spin off of the "Sperry Topsider" logo.

The design on the back changes from year to year. I've seen one or two people with stitched "FIJI" hoodies, but overall our FIJI men are more subdued with their apparel.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by carnation

Don't Fijis have event shirts with Fiji on them? I'd swear I've seen them, like for Fiji Island.

Right. It's the Greek letters they don't put on shirts (or anything else that can be easily destroyed), so lots of chapters use Fiji in place of the letters.

For reference, the Greek letters can only be displayed in the following places:

• On a uniform diamond-shaped member badge
• On the Fraternity's official seal
• On the Fraternity's official flag
• On a chapter house marker
• On memorials to deceased brothers
• On a brother's certificate of membership
• On a brother's official college ring

A little more info from The Wiki:

The fraternity's letters are considered sacred and are never to be displayed on an object that can be easily destroyed. Whereas other fraternities often display their letters on clothing or other items, this tradition prevents Fijis from doing so. In place of the actual Greek letters, "Fiji," "Phi Gam," or the English spelling of "Phi Gamma Delta" are used in their place.

The Fiji nickname started at New York University and was officially adopted by the national fraternity in 1894 in the belief that the term would be distinctive and appeal to the imagination. Prior to its formal appropriation by the organization at large, nicknames for members of the fraternity varied greatly; ranging from "Phi Gamm" and "Delta" by brothers across the nation, "Fee Gee" in New York, and "Gammas" in the South. As of now though, "Fiji" and "Phi Gam" are considered the only appropriate nicknames for Phi Gamma Delta members on the international scale, though local nicknames related to a chapter's Greek name or other colloquialisms do exist.

And I would note that the fraternity's website says this: "When our Fraternity is named in campus or interfraternity publications, we prefer the full spelling of Phi Gamma Delta rather than use of the Greek letters or the nickname Fiji."