As a curious foreigner, the culture of fraternity/sorority houses is all very alien to me, but the use of the Greek alphabet seems almost universal.
Is there an origin story for this?
Do the particular letters chosen mean anything?
How does a house pick what “its” title will be, and do they have to claim it so that no other house uses it? Or is it one of these “lost to time” things?
Thanks!
[Chose “other” but i guess it’s sort of sociology!]
In: 506
I can only speak for my own organization but our letters were not random and they did stand for something, however, what they stood for was a “secret” and you would only be told when you initiated as a full member.
Since no one else seems to have answered this part of your question yes, they do have to “claim” their letters. The letters are trademarked so you can’t start a new chapter of, say, Phi Mu without approval from the existing national organization anymore than you could start a new burger restaurant and name it McDonald’s. Greek organizations VIGOROUSLY defend their trademarks and would sue any group trying to use their letters. So if two schools each have a chapter of Kappa Alpha, they are affiliated with each other as individual chapters of a national organization. Sometimes a chapter will decide or be forced to leave their national organization and when they do, they will usually change or at least modify the name by adding or dropping a letter.
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