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  #1  
Old 02-20-2008, 09:16 PM
love4louboutin love4louboutin is offline
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Why is the phi in alpha phi pronounced fee and not fye

anyone know?
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  #2  
Old 02-20-2008, 09:29 PM
knight_shadow knight_shadow is offline
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I'm sure the Alpha Phis know.
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  #3  
Old 02-20-2008, 09:37 PM
AlethiaSi AlethiaSi is offline
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b/c it sounds funny as fye?


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  #4  
Old 02-20-2008, 09:41 PM
AOE2AlphaPhi AOE2AlphaPhi is offline
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Actually, I was told that it was the proper pronunciation of Phi following a vowel, but I've heard something else too. I think there's another thread about it on here somewhere.
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  #5  
Old 02-20-2008, 09:41 PM
rufio rufio is offline
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because thats how they want it?
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  #6  
Old 02-20-2008, 09:47 PM
amanda6035 amanda6035 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AOE2AlphaPhi View Post
Actually, I was told that it was the proper pronunciation of Phi following a vowel, but I've heard something else too. I think there's another thread about it on here somewhere.
this is what I've always heard too. Same with the letter Xi. Alpha *Zee* Delta, but for example, two chapters near here are Delta Xi and Zeta Xi and the Xi is pronouced *zye* for both of those.

I'd be interested to know how the girls in the local Zeta Xi Delta pronounce their Xi...
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  #7  
Old 02-20-2008, 09:54 PM
Drolefille Drolefille is offline
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  #8  
Old 02-20-2008, 09:58 PM
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because thats how they want it?
You say To-MAY-to, I say To-MAH-to...
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  #9  
Old 02-20-2008, 10:13 PM
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honeychile honeychile is offline
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The ADPi New Member Handbook has both the Greek and the English pronunciation of each of the Greek letters. The Alpha Phis use the Greek Phi, not the English one.

That, or their founder was this really, really tall giant, who owned a castle at the top of a hugely tall beanstalk. When a bad little kid named Jack climbed the beanstalk, sneaked into the castle, and stole the giant's gold (which was called "Alpha" in his kingdom), the giant suddenly woke up and yelled, "FEE, Fie, Fo, Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!" Jack got scared and tried to run, but he dropped the Alpha just as the giant was starting his "Fee, Fie, Fo, Fum!" bit again. The giant liked the sound of his money being saved "Alpha" next to his "Fee" and he became the sound mixer for this fantastic group of women, whom he called the Alpha Fees.
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  #10  
Old 02-20-2008, 10:20 PM
Benzgirl Benzgirl is offline
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Originally Posted by AOE2AlphaPhi View Post
Actually, I was told that it was the proper pronunciation of Phi following a vowel, but I've heard something else too. I think there's another thread about it on here somewhere.
This is what I was told during college.
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  #11  
Old 02-20-2008, 10:25 PM
violetpretty violetpretty is offline
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Originally Posted by AOE2AlphaPhi View Post
Actually, I was told that it was the proper pronunciation of Phi following a vowel, but I've heard something else too. I think there's another thread about it on here somewhere.
It really has nothing to do with that. Honeychile sums it up best.
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The Alpha Phis use the Greek Phi, not the English one.
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  #12  
Old 02-20-2008, 10:37 PM
LoggerTheta LoggerTheta is offline
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I know this sounds really weird, but in geology, we use a lot of greek letters (as in all sciences) well... the greek letter phi is used as a measure of grain size (like medium sand is a 2 phi grain and a fine sand is a 4 phi... it has to do with the diameter of the grain, but I digress) anyway, we pronounce it "fee" in geology. Though I think it's because saying "fye size" doesn't roll off the tongue as well as "fee size"
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  #13  
Old 02-20-2008, 11:50 PM
MysticCat MysticCat is offline
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You called? Just when I was headed to bed, too, so I'll stick to the short explanation.

Which is, basically, rufio and honeychile are right. It has nothing to do with coming after a vowel, (or technically, after the name of a vowel) -- that's a Greek Urban legend. The name of F is spelled Fi in Greek, and the Iota, like "i" in most European languages other than English, represents an "ee" sound, not an "eye" sound. So, "FEE" is the Greek pronunciation. Always. "FYE" is an anglicized, mainly American, pronunciation. The Alpha Phis chose to use the Greek pronunciations, while most of the rest of us use anglicized pronunciations.

And in case anyone is wondering, the correct pronuncitions of the names of the letters X, P, C and Y are "KSEE" (pronoucing both the K and the S), "PEE," "CHEE" (with the "ch" like in Scottish "loch") and "PSEE" (pronouncing both the P and the S).

Now, that really was short for me.
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  #14  
Old 02-21-2008, 11:01 AM
Hopeful_Bubbles Hopeful_Bubbles is offline
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Originally Posted by LoggerTheta View Post
I know this sounds really weird, but in geology, we use a lot of greek letters (as in all sciences) well... the greek letter phi is used as a measure of grain size (like medium sand is a 2 phi grain and a fine sand is a 4 phi... it has to do with the diameter of the grain, but I digress) anyway, we pronounce it "fee" in geology. Though I think it's because saying "fye size" doesn't roll off the tongue as well as "fee size"
/hijack
Yay, another female geologist!
/end hijack
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  #15  
Old 02-21-2008, 11:09 AM
AlwaysSAI AlwaysSAI is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat View Post
You called? Just when I was headed to bed, too, so I'll stick to the short explanation.

Which is, basically, rufio and honeychile are right. It has nothing to do with coming after a vowel, (or technically, after the name of a vowel) -- that's a Greek Urban legend. The name of F is spelled Fi in Greek, and the Iota, like "i" in most European languages other than English, represents an "ee" sound, not an "eye" sound. So, "FEE" is the Greek pronunciation. Always. "FYE" is an anglicized, mainly American, pronunciation. The Alpha Phis chose to use the Greek pronunciations, while most of the rest of us use anglicized pronunciations.

And in case anyone is wondering, the correct pronuncitions of the names of the letters X, P, C and Y are "KSEE" (pronoucing both the K and the S), "PEE," "CHEE" (with the "ch" like in Scottish "loch") and "PSEE" (pronouncing both the P and the S).

Now, that really was short for me.
See, I knew about I(ee)ota, but I didn't know about X, P, C and Y. So, it's really, Chee Omega. And Kappa Kappa Ksee. And Phee Sigma Pee. You know a friend of mine told me that P but I thought he was just making a joke cuz he's a little anti greek.
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