Newsgroups: rec.arts.int-fiction
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From: kennedy@   (John W Kennedy)
Subject: Re: British v. American Vocabulary (Update)
Message-ID: <1995Sep14.185455.11832@hcc.com>
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Date: Thu, 14 Sep 1995 18:54:55 GMT
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In <Pine.SOL.3.91.950912195708.28287A-100000@nova>, Allison Weaver <aweaver@nova.umuc.edu> writes:
>PS.  Ben, I haven't found anyone who knows why frats and sororities are
>named with Greek characters.  Again, anyone else that can help?

I believe that, historically, they were to conceal secret names that were
either actual Greek or English spelled as Greek.  Sufficiently old material
will occasionally turn up a reference in the form "Phi of Alpha Alpha".  When
the original fraternities were created (the sororities are, of course, much
younger), Greek was an ordinary accomplishment, after all.

