Recruitment Vocabulary

[33girl]

I have that book and can probably recite portions verbatim....it was at UC Berkeley. The women were in a Jewish sorority (this is in the early 60's, when there were still religion clauses in effect) and were taught to substitute the word "interesting" for Jewish. "Is she really interesting? I never would have guessed."

I've thought about this book during all the discussions of P******d (hahahaha) because it's an example of the RIGHT way to write about college women and their lives - each woman in the story has a distinctly different tenor to the way their story is told, that goes along with their personalities.

[MSKKG]

Originally posted by deadbear80
I know one term that got used by us as a negative was "nondescript". Not the nicest thing to say about a girl, but not heinous either. It's a great word for that girl who's just okay but there's nothing special that sticks out to make her say "take me in your chapter, I'll fit in great!" In fact, we were never allowed to say that a girl was 'nice'. We had to find more descriptive ways of talking about girls. I remember one girl describing a PNM as 'pinky'--because this girl was so decked out in cutsie pink that there was no better way to describe her!
When my mom was in her sorority she said they used to say "nice but not necessary". I always thought that to be quite mean!

Along those lines, my chapter used "vanilla" to describe someone who didn't necessarily stand out. Like "nondescript," it got the point across without being nasty.

[AOIIalum]

Originally posted by AOII_LB93
One of my least favorite terms: clinique-able. UGH!

You've got to be kidding? Clinique-able? Is that a positive or a negative?

[AOII_LB93]

Originally posted by AOIIalum
You've got to be kidding? Clinique-able? Is that a positive or a negative?

Well, I would have to say it's a "I'm sure if she put effort in to her appearance she would be presenting herself better." kind of term. I just figured if someone didn't put in the effort, they are not the type of member that a chapter would want, but that is just my take on it.

I once heard of a chapter saying that a girl was "equestrian" if she was a slut. ????????? I have no idea. It was kinda funny though

[PsychTau]

Don't equestrians ride a lot? Horses, you know.

PsychTau

[GeekyPenguin]

I called a girl generic once. It was the nicest thing I could think of.

One of my sisters also was stuck on a girl and blurted out "She'd be a great XYZ!" XYZ is a sorority on campus known for being someone crass and loose with their morals.

[AOTTAdvisor]

One of my favorites when we were trying to find a nice way to say the girl had a "questionable" reputation was that we had seen her get a little to "animated with the boys".
As a recruitment advisor, I always encourage my girls to stay away from "nice" or "cute" as well. The more descriptive of why you liked this girl, the better. And if you don't like her, be brief and courteous and move on!

[LoveMyKeyKKG]

What about NOTD? Not our type dear! ha ha!

Does anyone remember this from that episode of The Facts of Life when Tootie was rushing a sorority and Natalie went "undercover" to write an expose about sororities for the school newspaper.


My chapter used to say "I think this girl would be happier in another sorority."

[adpiucf]

While I am enjoying this thread, I also wanted to raise a question. Our recruitment methods are supposed to remain within our sorority, and isn't this a breach of etiquette to share this information? It might be better to discuss this offline or in your sorority's member-only site, to avoid possible "backlash." I understand this is to help one another, but better safe than sorry.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally posted by adpiucf
While I am enjoying this thread, I also wanted to raise a question. Our recruitment methods are supposed to remain within our sorority, and isn't this a breach of etiquette to share this information? It might be better to discuss this offline or in your sorority's member-only site, to avoid possible "backlash." I understand this is to help one another, but better safe than sorry.

Membership selection is secret, but I highly doubt that it's a secret that we discuss girls before we select them...

[PsychTau]

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
Membership selection is secret, but I highly doubt that it's a secret that we discuss girls before we select them...

I kind of agree. I also don't think it's a big secret that most (I can't say all) groups have some sort of vote...how else would you come to a consensus? We're not discussing exactly how we use this info (i.e. We have a 3x5 card and on the front we write.....on the back we write.....then we rate using....then we draw them out of a hat for our invite list....).

In most of the posts I've seen here, the Recruitment Counselors encourage the PNMs to keep a journal and write exactly what they liked and didn't like about each group so that they could remember later. The more descriptive on their part, the better. I'm sure they could use some of these words as well.

So far I haven't been uncomfortable reading any of these posts thinking I might be getting info I shouldn't have.

PsychTau

[EEKappa]

Originally posted by MSKKG
Along those lines, my chapter used "vanilla" to describe someone who didn't necessarily stand out. Like "nondescript," it got the point across without being nasty.

We used "vanilla" too! I thought our chapter came up with it.

Some of the highest praise was:
I like her so much I'd let her use my toothbrush

[ISUKappa]

Originally posted by EEKappa
We used "vanilla" too! I thought our chapter came up with it.

Some of the highest praise was:
I like her so much I'd let her use my toothbrush

One of the favorites when I was in the house was "I'd do naked cartwheels on Central Campus for her."

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by ISUKappa
"I'd do naked cartwheels on Central Campus for her."

Pictures please.